An “uncommon request” to change the name of a Welsh community has been approved.

Gwynedd Council received the request from Llanaelhaearn Community Council to update its historic name from just Llanaelhaearn to Trefor a Llanaelhaearn.

The change was approved at a full council meeting on 5 December.

The original name came from the old parochial order with the ecclesiastical parish being just called “Llanaelhaearn”.

Llanaelhaearn church dates back to the sixth century, and the parish of Llanaelhaearn became the name for the local government of “a wide and scattered” area from the 16th century onwards, a report noted.

A letter to Gwynedd Council from the area’s community council said nearby Trefor was now the most populous area in the community but that name was not recognised in the name of the community.

Recent data showed 511 electors in Trefor and 287 in Llanaelhaearn.

There are 12 community councillors, and two thirds – eight of the 12 – represent the village of Trefor.

In September 2021 the community council received a letter from Trefor residents calling for the change in “fairness for the village of Trefor”.

Cllr Menna Trenholme said it was an “uncommon request,” but the council “has a right to change the name of a community if it receives a request from the relevant community council. It is recommended that the name is changed.”

Councillors agreed, voting 53 in favour.

A notice be sent to Welsh Ministers, the Boundary and Local Democracy Commission for Wales, the Director General of the Ordnance Survey and to the Registrar General, and a notice published.

Gwynedd is currently undertaking a Community Review process under the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013 looking at community boundaries and electoral arrangements, but that process did not provide a means for changing the name of an existing community, a council report noted.