Mons City Map Poster

About Mons

The first name the town received was "Eburon", which is derived from the Latin word for 'yew tree'. The French called it "Bourg-de-Sirod" and later "Bourg-Léopold", but both names were mostly used by the clergy. In Dutch, and in English also, it is commonly known as just Mons or Bergen. However, in recent years its unofficial nickname has been changed to 'the city of donuts', after a popular Belgian cartoon character named The Smurfs who live on top of a hill shaped like a large donut (see below). Inhabitants are called Monseigneur(e)s (French), Monseigneur(es) (Dutch), or Monstres (Walloon).