"Preserving the small townsland names would be more important since they do hold some important clues about the area and how/why it was settled and are at much greater risk of being lost."

Yeah! I seethe every time I see a new housing estate get built called 'The Orchard' or some other daft name. Use the proper townland!!!!

That's why I like travelling through parts of the north. A lot of the street name signs also have the townland written on them.