THE idea of renaming the Welsh Assembly has been considered by AMs.

Re-naming the Assembly as the Welsh Parliament has been mooted for some time, and AMs discussed the idea in the Senedd on Tuesday.

Plaid Cymru member for South Wales West also put forward a proposal to rename the Assembly the ‘Senedd’, saying the name was used by many already.

Newly-appointed presiding officer Elin Jones said whichever name was ultimately chosen should “inspire confidence and pride among the people of Wales”.

But leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies warned against renaming the Assembly without ensuring the people of Wales fully understood what it meant.

“People still do not make a distinction between what the Assembly does and what the legislative (the Welsh Government) does,” he said.

“Any re-naming has to be taken on board by the electors who put us here.”

And leader of the Senedd’s Ukip group Neil Hamilton backed the idea of renaming the Assembly as the Senedd.

“I wonder if that would make us senators ultimately and how that would be regarded by the public at large,” he said.

And first minister Carwyn Jones said: “It is important we have a name people understand.

“People understand what a Parliament is.”

No final decision was made during Tuesday’s debate.

The idea of using the Senedd as a new name has also been backed by Welsh language campaign group Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg. The organisation’s rights spokeswoman Manon Elin said: "The word Senedd is one the public in general understands and supports.

“The name is already used widely among both Welsh and non-Welsh speakers.

“It would be a step forward for the normalisation of Welsh in public life as well.”