Name as gaeilge

seanog9494

What is the easiest way to get my Irish name on my passport and other documents? If you use your Irish name did you only change your last name or both?

muineachan

seanog9494 wrote: »

What is the easiest way to get my Irish name on my passport and other documents? If you use your Irish name did you only change your last name or both?

Hi,

I changed both my first and last name. If you want to change your passport they will probably ask for proof you have been using your Irish name for 2 years (work badge or letter etc they arent that strict). There are some cases where they have changed the passport without proof (technically under the constitution this should always be the case but hey ho). I think they are less likely to ask for proof if the change is an obvious one ie Michael O'Sullivan> Mícheál Ó Suilleabháin.

If you dont have 2 year proof, the easiest was is get your drivers licence changed to your Irish name they dont (from anecdotal evidence) ask for proof and then once you have it back thats your photo ID you need to change your bank etc. some companies will change it not a bother (esb did for me) but others want proof such as Vodafone asked me to fax proof.

In my own case my name change wasn't straight forward and I hadnt done my driving test, so I was in catch 22; I needed evidence to change my passport, but my bank wouldnt change it without photo id. There is a way around this, sign up for a few things and get dated letters sent to you in your Irish name (ie tesco club card, esb, fan club etc) and then after 2 years send this evidence with a passport application and voila. In my case I was impatient and went and got a deed poll, technically this was wrong as an Irish citizen its your right to be addressed in Irish, but I couldnt find a way around the system and was not willing to wait two years.

The result of the deed poll was the passport office put me on a special 2 year passport (which I have used to change my bank account etc) with my English name noted on another page of the passport. When it runs out I will be able to apply for a full 10 year passport with my Irish name only. So in essense all they have done is given me my 2 year proof, which I could have done otherways, but I wouldnt have been able to use my Irish name for my bank etc this last 2 years which is personally important to me.

Another word of advice is if you change it, change everything, dont be having your passport as Gaeilge but your ESB as Béarla, it can cause problems and confusion, i tried the whole dual name thing for a while and it just didnt work for me so i am now soley known as Gaeilge.

As a matter of interest to me, how good is your Irish? I posted about people usin their Irish names without fluent Irish as I myself dont have fluent Irish and am just proud of my name and my cúpla focal!

Bí bród!

seanog9494

Thanks very much for the detailed answer. My Irish is not that great at the moment but I am learning. I really don't know if I should change my first name with my surname because it may cause more confusion for my friends and family. The whole name in Irish does sound better though.

deise go deo

I am actually in the limbo of having both Irish and English versions in use at the same time on official documents. My Passport is in English and Drivers licence in Irish.
It's really not much of a problem, the only thing is remembering which is used where, slowly getting everything changed over, just have to wait for my passport to expire next year.

Enkidu

muineachan wrote: »

As a matter of interest to me, how good is your Irish? I posted about people usin their Irish names without fluent Irish as I myself dont have fluent Irish and am just proud of my name and my cúpla focal!

Bí bród!

I don't think there is anything wrong with that. When you consider it objectively the Irish name has been in use for probably 800+ years (Mine has anyway), so you can consider the English version as a small blip in that history before you switched back.

muineachan

Enkidu wrote: »

muineachan wrote: »

As a matter of interest to me, how good is your Irish? I posted about people usin their Irish names without fluent Irish as I myself dont have fluent Irish and am just proud of my name and my cúpla focal!

Bí bród!

I don't think there is anything wrong with that. When you consider it objectively the Irish name has been in use for probably 800+ years (Mine has anyway), so you can consider the English version as a small blip in that history before you switched back.

That was my thinking, regardless of the language shift I think its extreem that our beautiful names changed too!

To the OP, my first name is fairly uncommon as Gaeilge and if im honest most friends and famiy still call me by the English version which I dont have a problem with, but I always introduce myself the leagan Gaeilge and gradually people are getting the hang of it. Ive had so many compliments on my Irish name and its usually a great start to a conversation but when I was a plain old Joe nobody ever said anything. Theres no confusion as such, Just let people know youve changed it (if you do) and start using it and gradually people will come round (although i doubt ill ever get my nan calling my leagan Gaeilge, im just happy she still remembers who I am!)

Gael

Muineachan gives some very good tips and personal experience above.

I'd agree that you need to go all or nothing with changing to your Irish name. Having half your ID in English and half in Irish will eventually cause you headaches, especially if you go abroad (they don't get the whole "two names" thing and will more than likely assume that you're dodgy).

That said, it can take time to do it, and they are stricter about proof of identity now than they were ten years or more ago when I did it. Just start with the stuff that's the easiest to change and work your way up to more restricted stuff as you accumulate ID with your Irish name on it.

Personally, I found changing your name on your bank account is one of the most significant acts, as it's the form of ID that you probably use the most (let's be honest, you don't use your passport that often, however important a document that it is). It's worth getting an appointment and sitting down with someone from the bank to explain what you're doing. They were quite helpful (and even supportive) in my experience, as long as you do it in an open and official manner.

Are you planning to use your address in Irish as well?

Gael

Oh, one other thing I'd recommend if planning to change to using the Irish version of your name is making sure you know what it is for sure.

Seriously, I've met people who were given a completely inaccurate Irish version of their name in school and who never researched or questioned it. You'll have it for life, so make sure that it's correct! Check out Edward McLysaght's 'Surnames of Ireland' or 'An Sloinnteoir Gaeilge agus an tAinmneoir' by Muiris Ó Droighneáin if you're in anyway unsure.

Gael

Forgot to mention the annual campaign to get people to use their Irish name on Facebook. It's an easy place to start!

https://www.facebook.com/events/341762295862039/

muineachan

an smaoineamh atá ann, no better place to publicly declare your name change than on facebook. I remember when I first changed my facebook to my Irish name, I got a few confused replies from my friends abroad but it was good craic, and nobody had an excuse not to be able to spell it

dlofnep

Agreed on going the full hog being a must. You simply can't have one document in English, and the other in Irish.. It is a pain in the hole. Especially when asked for two forms of I.D, and they list two different names.

greenbicycle

This is an interesting topic. I knew a guy a good few years ago who changed his passport to have his name in Irish but he didn't do it for the same reasons as the op.

I met him while I was on a j1 visa in america back in 2001 I think it was. He had already done a j1 the year before using the name David murphy which is his name if course and the name on his passport. He applied for a j2 the following year but he wasn't able to get one, they had reached their quota for the year or something, so, he went and changed the name on his passport to daithi o mhuruchu and got a j1 visa, you are only allowed to get one of these j1 visas in your lifetime but this guy managed to get this second one by changing his name to the Irish version!

Didn't think it was possible and I'm sure you wouldn't get away with it now but I thought it was fairly clever at the time!

muineachan

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Hi, i was born and reared in england and i changed my name to the irish version, so I understand your obsession well!! Also, it was my grandparents that were from Ireland. I never had an interest in the language until I got into my early 20s and wondered what my grandmother was saying, shed throw in the cupla focal every now and then, and my love blossomed from there, soon I had my facebook profile in my Irish name and was using it unofficially. It wasnt until I moved to Ireland that I changed my name to Irish for official purposes though. I only speak a bit of Irish, And yes it does feel weird having an Irish name without speaking Irish, and having an english accent. its hard trying to explain to someone youve the love for the language when you know all they are thinking is plastic paddy! Yes at the start it was about connecting with my heritage, personally I think thats far better than wearing green on paddys day and putting on a ****e accent. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but the bottom line is is your choice, in my experience I judged myself more than others judged me, but a couple of years on and im very comfortable with it.

If im honest there are times I regret it and wish Id of kept my original name legally, but for the most part im proud, and very happy to be learning Irish.

Good luck if you do, dont be embarressed though, there are plenty of asian, european, african names out there, why should you be embaressed at an original Irish name? In the UK you will need to do a deed poll, its not hard, you just get the wording online, print, sign the declaration and tell people, In Ireland you have to go to court, get it signed by a lawyer and pay a stamping fee. As for your kids, remember technically the name will still be the same, just in Irish, the proper version before the English butchered it.

ps my fiance has no interest in Irish either, shes very much looking forward to having an Irish language surname!

muineachan

<snip - post removed>

We are part of a tiny sub section of society for sure, I bet you could count on both hands the number of people who are born and raised abroad speak little Irish and use their Irish name officially and always.

Needles in a haystack :cool:

An gal gréine

muineachan wrote: »

We are part of a tiny sub section of society for sure, I bet you could count on both hands the number of people who are born and raised abroad speak little Irish and use their Irish name officially and always.

Needles in a haystack :cool:

There are plenty of Glasgow natives who have learnt and speak Irish and still live over there but I doubt that there's many of them who use the Irish form of their name.
Conradh na Gaeilge could fill you in as regards their various branches throughout Britain.

easpa_ciall

Hello all ,
I have looked through this post and searched the internet thoroughly to no avail ,
I am hoping to have the Irish translation of my name put on to my passport quite soon and wondering if anyone could link / send me to the piece of legislation that states we Irish have a right to be addressed in out native tongue,

Hope someone may be able to help ,
Go raibh míle maith agaibh . . .:)

deise go deo

easpa_ciall wrote: »

Hello all ,
I have looked through this post and searched the internet thoroughly to no avail ,
I am hoping to have the Irish translation of my name put on to my passport quite soon and wondering if anyone could link / send me to the piece of legislation that states we Irish have a right to be addressed in out native tongue,

Hope someone may be able to help ,
Go raibh míle maith agaibh . . .:)

Hi, If you are looking for legislation that says you have a right to use the Irish version of your name, there is none, its just been state policy since the begenning to recognise the Irish version of a name as being the same name officially and as such not to require a deed poll when switching between the two.

If you are looking for legislation that says that you have the right to do your business with the public service through Irish, then thats the Official Languages Act 2003

easpa_ciall

deise go deo wrote: »

Hi, If you are looking for legislation that says you have a right to use the Irish version of your name, there is none, its just been state policy since the begenning to recognise the Irish version of a name as being the same name officially.

If you are looking for legislation that says that you have the right to do your business with the public service through Irish, then thats the Official Languages Act 2003

That was just what I was looking for , apologies for not describing what I was after correctly , but thank you very much for putting me in the right direction.

samai

Also to add to that, your Irish name comes under the constitutions assertation that Irish has equal status to English, thats the root of your Irish name being as official as your English one

deise go deo

samai wrote: »

Also to add to that, your Irish name comes under the constitutions assertation that Irish has equal status to English, thats the root of your Irish name being as official as your English one

I would not go relying on the constitution to much, The same article that says Irish is the first national language also says that the state can choose to use one or the other of the official languages exclucively in the course of its business.

easpa_ciall

Thanks for the help,
Is anyone aware and/or sure if I do actually need 2 years of proof to include the Irish form of my name on my Passport ?