The Market Place @museum.de

M: The people of Mögglingen have a very special, albeit involuntary, relationship with this bird. That's because they're mockingly nicknamed "Remsgöckel" by folk from the surrounding villages. The name translates as Rems cockerels (you'll remember that Rems is the name of the local river). As to when the nickname originated and what it's supposed to mean exactly – nobody quite knows.

F: But Mögglingen residents aren't the only ones to have been landed with a derisive moniker. The people of Heubach, for example, are called Mondstupfler and the people of Böbingen are rather rudely called Heckenscheißer – people who do their business in hedges. Most of the time, the local nicknames are linked to some special event, or a special characteristic shared by the residents.

M: Over time, the nicknames were taken up by those who were the butt of the joke – and elevated to being part of their proud village identity. One example is the name of the local carnival society, the Mögglauer Remsgöckel.

F: Perhaps the cockerel has something to do with whoever founded the village. That's said to have been a man called Mackilo, an Alemannic clan chief. We don't know much about this fellow, only that his name means "the strong". And of course, popular belief has it that the cockerel is a symbol of a fighting spirit.

M: Hmm ... well. That doesn't sound terribly convincing. And how do we know the village can trace its origins back to the Alemannic period that being around 500 AD? Because its name ends in...ingen". And that's a fact.

F: Which brings us to some other gentlemen, about whom we don't know very much either. They're called "Ruchen von Mechelingen".

M: Evidence from the 14th century shows them to have been burghers of Gmünd, but before that, they're said to have lived here in the village as the local gentry. But why would that matter now?

F: When the state of Baden-Württemberg introduced a new municipal ordinance in 1955, the local parishes were asked to adopt a coat of arms. Mögglingen decided to use the Ruchen family's armorial bearing. However, the original coat of arms had only survived in the form of a seal imprint, so designing it took a bit of imagination. The result was a black dog's head – more precisely, the head of a German Hound with a fiery red tongue protruding.