The province of Noord-Brabant wants to change its name to Brabant, the Telegraaf reports on Friday.

The D66 liberal democrats on the provincial council have entered a motion for the name change.

Noord-Brabant is the official name of the province, but since 2001 the name Brabant has been in unofficial use.

A recent survey by Ipsos showed that 52% of the people living in the province think of themselves as Brabanters, while 14% consider themselves Noord-Brabanters.

‘The name change would make us more self-confident in moving towards Europe and the rest of the world,’ a D66 spokesman told the Telegraaf.