What's so wrong with having an Irish name?

For Forks Sake

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

give you a break for what?

A kit-kat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDY2m-oUdqE

Honey-ec

Shenshen wrote: »

Perfectly fine?
Not really.

I'm sick to the teeth of spelling my name, only for the person writing it down to get it wrong anyway. I've had no end of problems with banks, employers and whichever agency updates your PPS details in the past.
It's a royal pain in the neck, let me assure you.

So change it or go and live in a German-speaking country. I don't really think you can moan about your German-speaking parents giving you a German name or have a go at non-German speakers in a non-German speaking country for having difficulty pronouncing or spelling it.

I have an Irish name and work for a German company, so a lot of people in our head office have difficulty with it. Do I get my knickers in a twist over it? No, I accept it as part and parcel of different languages having different names. If I lived in Germany I certainly wouldn't be cursing my parents for having the audacity to give me an Irish name.

Tordelback

Shenshen wrote: »

It's a royal pain in the neck, let me assure you.

I suspect because you have a culturally unusual name you might be imagining everyone else's name gets spelled correctly straight away!

I have a common-enough English firstname and surname, as does my wife, and we have to endlessly spell our names too, here and abroad. There are relatively few names which have no close homonyms or variant spellings, even within a single language. My name was actually spelled wrong on my birth cert, as was my mother's (Irish) maiden name, which was the cause of many larks when I went to get married.

Even if you were called Joan Smith, you'd still be faced with Joanne Smythe staring back at you from time to time. Look at common ones like Steven/Stephen/Stephan, Burn/Byrne/Byrnes, Brian/Bryan/Brien etc. etc.

Alias G

XxMCRxBabyxX wrote: »

Very often on boards you see someone making a sneery comment over gaeilge names and I have never understood why. There seems to be some implication that only posh spoilt D4 kids have those names and I'm sure most of us would agree that that isn't true. So what's wrong with having an Irish name? How can a name annoy or offend someone so much?

Because Afters Hours the internet has plenty of judgemental twats for posters. If you haven't noticed that then you haven't been paying too much attention.

The Backwards Man

I think there is something wrong with people who have no interest in taking the time to learn to pronounce someone's name correctly, no matter what language it's in, especially if they are going to be using it regularly.

Da Shins Kelly

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Thank you, OP! Exactly!! Everyone in my immediate family has an Irish name, including myself and this bollocks about it only being for D4 heads doesn't apply here. All of us were born 1980 or before and my parents were working class and not in any way posh. Irish names can be beautiful (although there's plenty of clangers....my own name isn't the nicest) and I don't know any other country that complains about giving kids names from their own country. What kind of stupid complaint is that? More Irish self-loathing bollocks if you ask me.

Same. All my siblings and I have Irish names, we were all born between the late 70s and early 90s, and we're from a completely working class background. Nothing remotely posh about us.

Sure, I've had difficulty when travelling with people who don't understand how to pronounce my name, but believe it or not, most people are not dicks and will actually make an effort to pronounce your name correctly once you explain it. I've encountered a few names in my time that I wasn't entirely familiar with, but in order not to offend someone, you actually try to get it right. To be honest, I'd rather have the name I have and have something somewhat unique and related to my culture than worry about what non-Irish people are going to do when they hear my name (not that there ever is any problem with my name upon hearing it, it's the spelling that's confusing).

I agree, it's another form of cultural self-loathing, and this obsession that Irish people seem to have with what everyone else thinks of them.

dj jarvis

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Thank you, OP! Exactly!! Everyone in my immediate family has an Irish name, including myself and this bollocks about it only being for D4 heads doesn't apply here. All of us were born 1980 or before and my parents were working class and not in any way posh. Irish names can be beautiful (although there's plenty of clangers....my own name isn't the nicest) and I don't know any other country that complains about giving kids names from their own country. What kind of stupid complaint is that? More Irish self-loathing bollocks if you ask me.

all true,

unless you have a made up bollixoilgy name.
dont tell me you have not heard these type of "Irish" names and not vomited just a little.

I am guessing you might have a normal commoner gardener Irish name so the above would be true,
but for the rest - BURN THEM I SAY - BURN THEM LIKE WITCHES

Tordelback

dj jarvis wrote: »

...commoner gardener...

Worth the price of admission, that one!

Zebra3

A mate of mine from abroad was telling me a few weeks ago that Liam is actually becoming a popular name in mainland Europe among non-English speaking* parents.


*As in not as their first language (and I know it's an Irish name).

RossyG

Irish names are great, but don't take the piss out of people who can't pronounce them.

dj jarvis

Tordelback wrote: »

Worth the price of admission, that one!

you should have seen my attempt at that in Irish :P

but dont be an ass you know what i mean :rolleyes:

Legs.Eleven

dj jarvis wrote: »

all true,

unless you have a made up bollixoilgy name.
dont tell me you have not heard these type of "Irish" names and not vomited just a little.

I am guessing you might have a normal commoner gardener Irish name so the above would be true,
but for the rest - BURN THEM I SAY - BURN THEM LIKE WITCHES

I've only met one other person with my name. My mother didn't make it up though - she liked the name of an Irish poet who had the same name but because of its obscurity, people believe it is. The rest of my siblings' names would be common or garden and she didn't have a pretentious bone in her body.

And those names you speak of - they're not made up. Obscure but not invented like you mean (aren't all names invented at some stage though?). You'll find origins to them somewhere and I genuinely think many of them are very beautiful. People don't REALLY call their kids Uachtair Reoite or Timpiste (;)). Not to be confrontational but what name can you give as an example that's made up?

dj jarvis

Zebra3 wrote: »

A mate of mine from abroad was telling me a few weeks ago that Liam is actually becoming a popular name in mainland Europe among non-English speaking* parents.


*As in not as their first language (and I know it's an Irish name).

a couple i know who are English and polish , they live in Germany , named their son Liam
they have no connection with Ireland other than knowing me , and i am not called Liam.

Lots of Irish names are really nice , but some coupled with pretension from stuck up parents , coming from a certain socioeconomic background just take away from the ring of the name

A bit like sloan ranger parents calling their son Tarquinn
It just comes across as being stuck up idiots

Sky King

I like the idea that lots of Irish names are thousands of years old and pre date christianity. And lots of them have kick-ass origins in legends for being fking magic lord of the rings style-ee celtic wizards and sh!t like that.

Agricola

Calling kids unpronounceable, unspellable Irish names, saying we're all Catholics who have fluent Irish on the census, drinking till we collapse on the weekend while being teetotal the other 6 days...... C'MOOOONN IRELAND!

XxMCRxBabyxX

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

I've only met one other person with my name. My mother didn't make it up though - she liked the name of an Irish poet who had the same name but because of its obscurity, people believe it is. The rest of my siblings' names would be common or garden and she didn't have a pretentious bone in her body.

And those names you speak of - they're not made up. Obscure but not invented like you mean (aren't all names invented at some stage though?). You'll find origins to them somewhere and I genuinely think many of them are very beautiful. People don't REALLY call their kids Uachtair Reoite or Timpiste (;)). Not to be confrontational but what name can you give as an example that's made up?

+1

I have the same type of name. Its very unusual and most Irish wouldn't recognise it. It actually dates back to the BCs though.

An unusual name is not automatically a made up name.

RossyG

I wish people in this thread would actually say what their Christian names are rather than just hint at them.

dj jarvis

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

I've only met one other person with my name. My mother didn't make it up though - she liked the name of an Irish poet who had the same name but because of its obscurity, people believe it is. The rest of my siblings' names would be common or garden and she didn't have a pretentious bone in her body.

And those names you speak of - they're not made up. Obscure but not invented like you mean (aren't all names invented at some stage though?). You'll find origins to them somewhere and I genuinely think many of them are very beautiful. People don't REALLY call their kids Uachtair Reoite or Timpiste (;)). Not to be confrontational but what name can you give as an example that's made up?

you know , you have me there - off the top of my head i cant come up with one that is "made up" , i suppose its more the assertion ( true or not ) that they are trying to make with a un common irish name , as i have said , that if some one had a un common English name i would rightly or wrongly make a assumption based on that name , where they come from , and what uni they attend or job they have.
yes it social stereotyping - and yes i should know better , but i would normally be right in my assumption.

a bit like someone from ballymun being called rasher or kylie, you would assume something about them and their social position - right or wrong.

so i suppose that is how i feel about certain Irish names - it sounds like they are trying too hard

feel free to abuse me for the above statement but i would imagine this goes on a lot

?Cee?view

I quite like some Irish names but the latest fad now seems to be for calling kids after things rather than actual names.

For instance, I know a Bradán, as in the Irish for salmon!

Even worse, his parents haven't a word of Irish so they pronounce his name wrongly because there is a similar word though less known, with a completely different meaning. They actually pronounce it in such a way that they are calling him "shower" (as in rain shower) rather than "salmon". Poor kid!

**These people are the prime example of what DJ Jarvis writes about in his post above, who are trying too hard!

Legs.Eleven

RossyG wrote: »

I wish people in this thread would actually say what their Christian names are rather than just hint at them.

My name is Fúngús O' Googaloid.

gramar

RossyG wrote: »

I wish people in this thread would actually say what their Christian names are rather than just hint at them.

Is that right Ross?:rolleyes:

Legs.Eleven

dj jarvis wrote: »

you know , you have me there - off the top of my head i cant come up with one that is "made up" , i suppose its more the assertion ( true or not ) that they are trying to make with a un common irish name , as i have said , that if some one had a un common English name i would rightly or wrongly make a assumption based on that name , where they come from , and what uni they attend or job they have.
yes it social stereotyping - and yes i should know better , but i would normally be right in my assumption.

a bit like someone from ballymun being called rasher or kylie, you would assume something about them and their social position - right or wrong.

so i suppose that is how i feel about certain Irish names - it sounds like they are trying to hard

feel free to abuse me for the above statement but i would imagine this goes on a lot

I don't have children but when I do, I will give them lovely names and will really think about and consider what I'm going to call them cos there's so many names out there to choose from. Why not sure! I'll put a bit of thought into it. "Would a rose smell as sweet with any other name?". Why not "try to hard"? It's your child!

If you judge someone's class on their name, fair enough but I think this idea that D4 kids are given obscure Irish names is exaggerated. I think it's more the idea that some people view them as West Brits and they don't think they're as entitled to the name as someone from Galway, for example, or it's somehow phoney which is a bit silly. I know plenty of people from the country with hardcore Irish names but if someone from South Dublin calls their kids the same name, people scoff. I don't really get it.

hatrickpatrick

BillyMitchel wrote: »

Double barrell surnames are worse.

Never understood this one either, what's wrong with them? Who gives a f*ck?

dj jarvis

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

I don't have children but when I do, I will give them lovely names and will really think about and consider what I'm going to call them cos there's so many names out there to choose from. Why not sure! I'll put a bit of thought into it. "Would a rose smell as sweet with any other name?". Why not "try to hard"? It's your child!

If you judge someone's class on their name, fair enough but I think this idea that D4 kids are given obscure Irish names is exaggerated. I think it's more the idea that some people view them as West Brits and they don't think they're as entitled to the name as someone from Galway, for example, or it's somehow phoney which is a bit silly. I know plenty of people from the country with hardcore Irish names but if someone from South Dublin calls their kids the same name, people scoff. I don't really get it.

but the prevalence of these Irish names increased with the property prices in south Dublin , People from galway have to my mind Always had Irish names.
i grew up in south dublin , i went to a famous south dublin school in the 70's/80's and hand on my heart i never heard as many irish names as i do today, could be a rekindling for the love of Irish , or just stuck up D4 heads trying to sound "better" than they actually are by giving the brats obscure Irish names

But i am one to talk , Both my kids have Finnish names

dj jarvis

dj jarvis wrote: »

Lots of Irish names are really nice , but some coupled with pretension from stuck up parents , coming from a certain socioeconomic background just take away from the ring of the name

So some names are really nice only if you're from a lower socio-economic background, but pretentious if you aren't. Gotcha.

Snobbery in reverse is still snobbery.

Pumpkinseeds

Some of the older Irish names are nice. What's worse than the avalanche of children being given Irish 'unique' names is why they were given those names. Put simply it was pretentiousness on the part of the parents. It seems to me to be yet another example of people losing the run of themselves during the whole Celtic tiger fiasco.

Legs.Eleven

dj jarvis wrote: »

but the prevalence of these Irish names increased with the property prices in south Dublin , People from galway have to my mind Always had Irish names.
i grew up in south dublin , i went to a famous south dublin school in the 70's/80's and hand on my heart i never heard as many irish names as i do today, could be a rekindling for the love of Irish , or just stuck up D4 heads trying to sound "better" than they actually are by giving the brats obscure Irish names

But i am one to talk , Both my kids have Finnish names

I don't get that. They're names from Ireland. They're not calling their kids obscure names from another country.

I'm from North Dublin and Irish names are also popular that side of the Liffey. They're just popular right now the country over and perhaps people generally are getting a bit more experimental with names instead of giving kids their granny's name (which is fine) or a Saint's name like in the 70s and 80s.

I can't see how giving your kid a name from the country you're from when everyone else is doing it makes you better.....

It seems like everything D4 heads do is a form of snobbery.


My boyfriend is Spanish and if things go to plan, we'll have a few kids. I'd like to give at least one of them a Spanish name but I'd hate to think people would think I'm up myself for giving them "exotic" names.

hatrickpatrick

My name is URL wrote: »

People on Boards just seem to have a thing about hating Irish full stop. I don't speak the language myself but it never fails to amuse me how riled up people get about it all.

I blame the Irish curriculum in schools. It's absolute bullsh!t and from primary right through to leaving cert level a class of learning Irish reading absolutely crappy literature which is all about misery in one form or another is enough to make you feel like you're dying a slow death.

Honestly, if it weren't for the utterly sh!te choices of stories and poems people wouldn't hate Irish nearly as much. And I actually know enough about Irish songs and poetry to know that it's definitely not a case of "the only Irish literature in existence is boring and depressing", there's a lot of funny, charming or amusing Irish stories and songs out there. The issue isn't Irish literature it's whatever knobs are responsible for deciding which ones are taught in school.

Our Irish teacher in sixth class more or less threw out the textbook and brought in his own photocopied Irish literature to learn, most of which I distinctly remember as being hilariously funny at best, and mildly amusing at worst. Then you get into the senior cycle where they have no choice but to teach you depressing stuff and it's all depressed women with nasty husbands (An Bhean Og), long drawn out famine stories and other such absolute crap.

tl;dr version: People don't hate Irish because it's hard to speak it, they hate it because the way it's done in school is far too time consuming, far too boring, and in most cases downright depressing. You'd walk into Irish class in a good mood, read a couple of sob stories and come out feeling like the school was being occupied by Dementors from Harry Potter.

That's my honest opinion anyway.

dj jarvis

Candie wrote: »

So some names are really nice only if you're from a lower socio-economic background, but pretentious if you aren't. Gotcha.

Snobbery in reverse is still snobbery.

that is not what i said

i said people ( me ) make a assumption based on a name , no matter WHERE it comes from , and i have gave my examples
i never said rasher or kyile were nice or not , but i would make a certain assumption on hearing those names.
same goes for certain Irish names
you are reading it wrong or misunderstanding what is being said,

dj jarvis

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I blame the Irish curriculum in schools. It's absolute bullsh!t and from primary right through to leaving cert level a class of learning Irish reading absolutely crappy literature which is all about misery in one form or another is enough to make you feel like you're dying a slow death.

Honestly, if it weren't for the utterly sh!te choices of stories and poems people wouldn't hate Irish nearly as much. And I actually know enough about Irish songs and poetry to know that it's definitely not a case of "the only Irish literature in existence is boring and depressing", there's a lot of funny, charming or amusing Irish stories and songs out there. The issue isn't Irish literature it's whatever knobs are responsible for deciding which ones are taught in school.

Our Irish teacher in sixth class more or less threw out the textbook and brought in his own photocopied Irish literature to learn, most of which I distinctly remember as being hilariously funny at best, and mildly amusing at worst. Then you get into the senior cycle where they have no choice but to teach you depressing stuff and it's all depressed women with nasty husbands (An Bhean Og), long drawn out famine stories and other such absolute crap.

tl;dr version: People don't hate Irish because it's hard to speak it, they hate it because the way it's done in school is far too time consuming, far too boring, and in most cases downright depressing. You'd walk into Irish class in a good mood, read a couple of sob stories and come out feeling like the school was being occupied by Dementors from Harry Potter.

That's my honest opinion anyway.

nail on the head with that !!
my generation (70's) got Irish beat into us , i still shudder on hearing the name PEG :eek:
any love for the Irish language was soon beat out of me pronto
the christian brothers have more to answer to than kiddy fiddling

hatrickpatrick

dj jarvis wrote: »

that is not what i said

i said people ( me ) make a assumption based on a name , no matter WHERE it comes from , and i have gave my examples
i never said rasher or kyile were nice or not , but i would make a certain assumption on hearing those names.
same goes for certain Irish names
you are reading it wrong or misunderstanding what is being said,

That's a whole hell of a lot worse. Seriously. God knows how you'd react to meeting a girl called Sarah Jane or with any sort of hyphenated surname (I know a really nice SJ and I know many people with a mix of their mother and father's surnames and not one of them is an asshole).

The only conclusion I draw from threads like these is that if Boards is in any representative of Irish society (which, thankfully, it usually isn't) and we as a nation are that superficial, it would go a good way into explaining how we ended up in as f*cked up a situation as we've ended up in.

dj jarvis

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

That's a whole hell of a lot worse. Seriously. God knows how you'd react to meeting a girl called Sarah Jane or with any sort of hyphenated surname (I know a really nice SJ and I know many people with a mix of their mother and father's surnames and not one of them is an asshole).

The only conclusion I draw from threads like these is that if Boards is in any representative of Irish society (which, thankfully, it usually isn't) and we as a nation are that superficial, it would go a good way into explaining how we ended up in as f*cked up a situation as we've ended up in.

ah come on now - so you are seriously trying to say that if charlo and rasher rolled up for a job interview, or called to the door to ask your daughter out, you would not have a even slight pre conceived idea of who you THINK they are ?
people do it all the time in the real world - but dont let that stop the charge of the AH brigade and their crusade :rolleyes:
pull the other one

** and SJ in not in my eyes a pretentious name AT ALL in my eyes , you are mixing apples with oranges , FFS my sisters name is EJ , i am talking about names like Tarquinn and the like , really not getting this are you **

sillysmiles

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I blame the Irish curriculum in schools...........

Seriously, get over it already. The teaching of Irish in school wasn't great. We all know that, we all went through it. But bloody hell, change the record.

hatrickpatrick

dj jarvis wrote: »

ah come on now - so you are seriously trying to say that if charlo and rasher rolled up for a job interview, or called to the door to ask your daughter out, you would not have a even slight pre conceived idea of who you THINK they are ?
people do it all the time in the real world - but dont let that stop the charge of the AH brigade and their crusade :rolleyes:
pull the other one

** and SJ in not in my eyes a pretentious name AT ALL in my eyes , you are mixing apples with oranges , FFS my sisters name is EJ , i am talking about names like Tarquinn and the like , really not getting this are you **

I wouldn't really to be honest, I've heard enough completely bizarre names on extremely sound people in my time that nothing can surprise me anymore

I have to assume you're mentioning Tarquinn because Tarquinn is Ivor's friend in the Everybody's Drinking aftermath video, or to paraphrase "We're going out on the lash again? Are you TAKING the pistachio???" :cool:

hatrickpatrick

sillysmiles wrote: »

Seriously, get over it already. The teaching of Irish in school wasn't great. We all know that, we all went through it. But bloody hell, change the record.

I think I've maybe mentioned it about 4 times in the 6 years I've been an AHer

Moonbeam

I like irish names , my 3 kids have them but I do find it amusing that there are a lot of kids with names pronounced very different to how they are spelt.

RossyG

gramar wrote: »

Is that right Ross?:rolleyes:

Yes.

Love, Ross x

dj jarvis

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I wouldn't really to be honest, I've heard enough completely bizarre names on extremely sound people in my time that nothing can surprise me anymore

I have to assume you're mentioning Tarquinn because Tarquinn is Ivor's friend in the Everybody's Drinking aftermath video, or to paraphrase "We're going out on the lash again? Are you TAKING the pistachio???" :cool:

no , if you had read a previous comment i made , i stated some Irish names SOUND like the same statement some sloan rangers from London calling their son tarquinn - I have acquired some knowledge outside the republic of telly :rolleyes:

Doing so makes a certain statement of social standing and wealth - doing the same with an Irish name in a leafy D4 suburb is making the same statement.

you dont hear many kids from D4 called kylie or stabber for the very same reason, it would send out the wrong signal , well, wrong from a certain type of D4 resident

and as i have said , its funny , growing up in south dub in the 70's , going to a well to do school, a small minority had Irish names , and these people came from Irish speaking family's so it was the norm,
but with the celtic tiger came a prevalence of obscure irish names , grouped in a certain area , so is that down to an awakening of the love of Irish , or stuck up Irish versions of the infamous "sloan rangers"

i know what one i think it is

** in fact , they do the very same thing in Scotland and lampoon people called Alistair , Alistair NEVER comes from the flats in glasgow **

dj jarvis

dj jarvis wrote: »

no , if you had read a previous comment i made , i stated some Irish names SOUND like the same statement some sloan rangers from London calling their son tarquinn - I have acquired some knowledge outside the republic of telly :rolleyes:

Doing so makes a certain statement of social standing and wealth - doing the same with an Irish name in a leafy D4 suburb is making the same statement.

Or, you know, maybe they just think it's a nice name.

hfallada

I have an Irish name and so those my brother and the neighbours even through we look nothing a like get it wrong cause we both have irish names. I hate Irish people giving their children trashy Americans names like Rihanna and Shantella

Shenshen

Honey-ec wrote: »

So change it or go and live in a German-speaking country. I don't really think you can moan about your German-speaking parents giving you a German name or have a go at non-German speakers in a non-German speaking country for having difficulty pronouncing or spelling it.

I have an Irish name and work for a German company, so a lot of people in our head office have difficulty with it. Do I get my knickers in a twist over it? No, I accept it as part and parcel of different languages having different names. If I lived in Germany I certainly wouldn't be cursing my parents for having the audacity to give me an Irish name.

Yes, because Germans make it soooo easy for you to change your name.
Why would I work in Germany? I can't stand it there.

And again, I'm not annoyed with them for giving me a German name. I'm annoyed with them for not giving me a second name to fall back on, but left me stuck with a name that sounds like an obscenity in English. :rolleyes:

FloatingVoter

Traditional Irish names like Tadgh, Liam, Bono, or Edge don't bother me. Its the spelling of the more long-winded ones that annoys me.

dj jarvis

Candie wrote: »

Or, you know, maybe they just think it's a nice name.

could be right - but do you not think its a bit of a coincidence that all these "nice" sounding Irish names , were grouped into a certain Dublin suburb, at a certain time ? dormant for decades , all of a sudden they appear ???

you can disagree with me - but i just don't believe that these names, all of a sudden started appearing with ONE set of well healed people , in one small area of south Dublin.

As far as i am aware living most of my life in SD , there is no Gaeltacht area in foxrock , its never been know for people speaking Irish , and very few of my friends and classmates had Irish names , let alone ones called salmon :eek:

and all this coincided with a explosiveness of wealth , following a trend mirrored in England and Scotland , That if you want to show you have "class :rolleyes: " and wealth your children MUST have obscure names that no one has heard in eons , and cant pronounce

but as i said , you COULD be right

Duckworth_Luas

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Traditional Irish names like Tadgh, Liam, Bono, or Edge don't bother me. Its the spelling of the more long-winded ones that annoys me.

Edge is a traditional Welsh name!

dj jarvis

dj jarvis wrote: »

could be right - but do you not think its a bit of a coincidence that all these "nice" sounding Irish names , were grouped into a certain Dublin suburb, at a certain time ? dormant for decades , all of a sudden they appear ???

you can disagree with me - but i just don't believe that these names, all of a sudden started appearing with ONE set of well healed people , in one small area of south Dublin.

As far as i am aware living most of my life in SD , there is no Gaeltacht area in foxrock , its never been know for people speaking Irish , and very few of my friends and classmates had Irish names , let alone ones called salmon :eek:

and all this coincided with a explosiveness of wealth , following a trend mirrored in England and Scotland , That if you want to show you have "class :rolleyes: " and wealth your children MUST have obscure names that no one has heard in eons , and cant pronounce

but as i said , you COULD be right

You see, not every person born in Foxrock in the last 25 years has been given an Irish name. Fewer still an obscure Irish name. What has happened is that on the backs of a couple of well known people with Irish names, and the likes of the O'Carroll Kelly books, that a stereotype has been born.

And some people with a propensity to buy into unflattering stereotypes, especially when they apply to groups they feel an animus towards, will perpetuate those stereotypes as a means of digging at people with a certain ethnic background, skin colour, or in this case, ridiculously, a postal address.

Let's not put aside the fact that Irish names are more popular across the board, on both sides of the Liffey and all over the country. This is partly to do with a locus of national identity and is common during large influx of foreign nationals, as Ireland has experienced over the last 15 years.

As you say, I might be right.

Or to put it another way, you might be wrong.

shruikan2553

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Never understood this one either, what's wrong with them? Who gives a f*ck?

Try living with one, its a pain in the ass that many people cant seem to comprehend how they work even when explained. To make things worse having a double barrel surname where both names look a lot like first names its a 1 in 3 chance of being called by my first name if its down as "surname, firstname"

Irish names are fine, its how some people pronounce them is the problem, reminds me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuzJUblDlsY

Nodin

Shenshen wrote: »

Yes, because Germans make it soooo easy for you to change your name.
Why would I work in Germany? I can't stand it there.

And again, I'm not annoyed with them for giving me a German name. I'm annoyed with them for not giving me a second name to fall back on, but left me stuck with a name that sounds like an obscenity in English. :rolleyes:

If your first name is Langer and you're in Cork, I will laugh at your expense. Sorry, but there ye are.

ivytwine

I have an Irish name and love my name. I did have trouble when I lived abroad, it was quite annoying, but I lived with it.

I also share it with a relatively well-known Wicklow born electronica singer (there's a hint) and some of the more hipster people I met abroad knew how to pronounce it :P

I think the world would be fierce boring if we were all called Kate and Steve. Some unusual names are beautiful. Also, I agree with MCRBaby, it's definitely yet another symptom of our self-loathing, would you hear Indian/Russian/Lithuanian people giving a **** about how English-speakers can pronounce their children's names?

Zebra3

dj jarvis wrote: »

Both my kids have Finnish names

Sauna and Nokia? :pac:

hfallada wrote: »

I hate Irish people giving their children trashy Americans names like Rihanna and Shantella

Rihanna is not an American name.

dj jarvis

Candie wrote: »

You see, not every person born in Foxrock in the last 25 years has been given an Irish name. Fewer still an obscure Irish name. What has happened is that on the backs of a couple of well known people with Irish names, and the likes of the O'Carroll Kelly books, that a stereotype has been born.

And some people with a propensity to buy into unflattering stereotypes, especially when they apply to groups they feel an animus towards, will perpetuate those stereotypes as a means of digging at people with a certain ethnic background, skin colour, or in this case, ridiculously, a postal address.

Let's not put aside the fact that Irish names are more popular across the board, on both sides of the Liffey and all over the country. This is partly to do with a locus of national identity and is common during large influx of foreign nationals, as Ireland has experienced over the last 15 years.

As you say, I might be right.

Or to put it another way, you might be wrong.

seriously :eek:

now that is a GIANT leap you are taking - not sure you read my post , and if you did , it obviously went miles over your head

i will leave you with this parting thought , if i am so wrong, then why oh why have Irish comics in the last ten years or so made jokes based on what i am saying ??? it has been a staple for ages to take the piss out of stupid obscure Irish names , on people from south Dublin . for the VERY reason i have pointed out .
so is it just me that has made the same connection or are you just not getting it .

cibé :rolleyes: