The Quaker Council for European Affairs is looking for a new ‘nickname’. Just as Britain Yearly Meeting has become known as ‘Quakers in Britain’, Friends in Brussels have decided to look for a new catchy name for themselves. In their survey, QCEA say that they’re not looking to change their name, rather they are just looking for something ‘snappier’ and ‘evocative’.

Options on the table include Quaker Action Europe, Quaker Action Brussels, Quaker Advocacy Europe, Quaker Witness Europe, A Quaker Voice in Europe and Quakers Changing Europe. QCEA was founded in 1979 with the intention of promoting Quaker values in a European context. Based in Brussels, QCEA is an international non-government organisation recognised in Belgian law.

Although QCEA are not looking to copy another organisation’s name, they appear to have drawn inspiration from other long-standing organisations such as Quaker Homeless Action, Quaker Social Action and Quaker Peace & Social Witness.

Quakers that Nayler spoke to see the proposed change as a good idea and see Britain Yearly Meeting’s use of ‘Quakers in Britain’ as positive. “Quakers in Britain is a much better name,” said Paul. “And ‘Quakers in Europe’ would work perfectly for Quaker Council for European Affairs.” Simon agreed: “I like the way ‘Quakers in Britain’ is used currently to represent Quakers to the public and give it an accessible and catchy name.” And Sam pointed out that Quakers in Britain are not the only organisation to use more than one name. “Mind is officially NAMH [National Association for Mental Health] but no-one uses the latter outside of legal stuff.” Peter doesn’t think that ‘Britain Yearly Meeting’ is an obvious name for people to understand its meaning. “Any time I have to use it publicly I make sure it says ‘of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) or I find a way of not using it,” he said.

To help QCEA identify their new moniker go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SN7B7ZW.