Irish nicknames

riclad

i think you can use an irish version, padraig etc the question is will people in your country understand how to pronounce it, even in america people know the name pat or patrick, will customers or people you work with like it ,or find it confusing . i think paudie is an awful name ,sounds like small per dog.anyone who speaks english can pronounce pat or patrick .

paudie is a very old fashioned name to use in 2021 ,mostly used in the gaeltacht .names go out of fashion ,

like cedric or nigel in the uk.

i think you live outside ireland , maybe you want to show your irish heritage by using the irish name

stopthevoting

Also, I forgot to say that I know of people of all age groups including in their 20s with each of these versions of the name.

dxhound2005

Not many Paudies, but no sign of them disappearing. In 2020 there were 13 Paudies, but fewer than 3 Nigels.

https://www.cso.ie/en/interactivezone/visualisationtools/babynamesofireland/

Ireland75

Yeah, I'm in Ireland. I was thinking of going by Padraig in work and socially. I'm applying for jobs at the moment and was thinking of introducing myself as Padraig instead of Patrick.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118115894#Comment_118115894

Preferably, you should be able to converse in irish then.

stopthevoting

Even easier so since you are in Ireland.

And there are many more Paudies than the CSO link given above would suggest, because most of the Paudies and other versions would actually be Patrick on the Birth certs. Even most of the Padraigs are probably actually registered as Patrick. I happen to like Paudie as a name. I would prefer it than Paddy.

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118115936#Comment_118115936

No, that has nothing to do with a person's name. Although it would be great to have that ability in any case, but it is totally irrelevant to this topic.

riclad

I think paddy is OK, padraig is ok, paudie reminds me of a old man from kerry who is a big gaa fan , eg very old fashioned , I'm not a tech expert but if I'm hiring someone I will need to know their Legal name, what's on your birth cert, p60 for the purposes of paying tax, prsi pension deductions etc and also certain jobs require garda screening

Your legal name is on your birth cert, tax forms, drivers license , Id passport

If your legal name is Patrick kelly you should be using that when applying for a job , if you get the job you can simply say I'd like to be addressed as Padraig

Companys have to report deductions paye pensions etc to tax office I think they would need to stick to the legal name to do so to be in compliance

Your prsi pension tax paye is tracked under one single legal name with a unique tax Id no As you work in any company or company's until the day you retire

Peregrinus

You have a unique tax ID precisely because there is no legal requirement to have a unique name. In Ireland, as a matter of law, your name is whatever you are known by, which is a question of fact. And, if different people call you different things, you have two names, each of them equally valid legally. This is common - people may use a maiden name in some contexts and a married name in others, or an Irish name in some circles and an English name in others, or a full forename in some situations and a diminutive in others.

There are no legal restrictions on the names, or number of different names, that you can have, either sequentially or simultaneously, other than not adopting a name to perpetrate a fraud. Having and using multiple names may cause confusion and give rise to practical difficulties and may seriously piss off banks, etc, who suspect - wrongly - that you may be using multiple names for fraudulent purposes, but it's not illegal and the names are all perfectly valid. Practical difficulties can often be alleviated by executing and registering a deed poll, but this is more for a situation in which you want to use one name in substitution for another, rather than one name as well as another.

But note that the name must actually be used. You announcing "I am now called Throatwarbler Mangrove" does not mean that Throatwarbler Mangrove is your name. You need to persuade other people to use Throatwarbler Mangrove as your name.

Which means, when you think about it, that ultimately what your name is is decided by other people.

cj maxx

I knew a lad Hugh X, in airports it was "will Hug X" go to... just to let you know that outside Ireland people won't know the name

Ireland75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118116275#Comment_118116275

I was thinking of using Padraig when I'm in Ireland. If I ever move abroad and people can't pronounce it I can just tell them they can call me Patrick, as that is my legal name anyway. I wouldn't be changing anything legally, will definitely keep Patrick as my legal name

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118117078#Comment_118117078

Don’t think you’ll be avoiding “mispronunciations” by only using here.

I knew a lad in college who’d never seen Padraig written down and we had a lecturer with the name. He called him “Pad-rag”.

randd1

There are nicknames for surnames as well of course.

"Hopper" McGrath,

"Chalkie" White

"Funky" Gibbons

I can't think of any more right now.

dxhound2005

I would go by the way people pronounce their own name, not try to make a rule for them. The piece below is from the Guardian.

When Padraig Harrington held aloft the Claret Jug at the Open on Sunday, sports fans around the world steeled themselves to enter the minefield of Irish pronunciation. Should his name be pronounced paw-drig, pahd-rag, paw-rick or paaah-ric?

All are in fact correct, depending on the district you happen to be in at the time. The name can be spelt Padhraic, Pádraig or Páraic. Until around 200 years ago, Irish society was so tribal and quarrelsome that only poets and seers dared step outside their locality. No one else got to hear how others pronounced things. Southerners were influenced by the Normans, and liked to chew over a word, spreading emphasis everywhere, but particularly on the first syllable - paahw-drig. Northerners swallowed their words, obliterating almost everything except a few consonants at the end - pa'ric.

Harrington's parents called him pawd-rig. By dropping the accent that ought to be on the first 'á', he has made things more complicated. In the same spirit, his ancestors at some point anglicised his surname from the original O hIongardail.

riclad

So you get a new job , say I'd like to be known as Padraig, for the purposes of tax forms, payslips my name is Patrick. I think it's simpler to keep using whatever name is on your tax form p60 on your payslip prsi etc

I presume your legal name on your birth cert is patrick

Ireland75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118119201#Comment_118119201

Yeah Patrick is my legal name. I don't want to be confusing people, I'm a bit worried if I go by Padraig that in the future if I work in another country then they might be confused if my legal name is different to what I go by?

cj maxx

I would thought have from the thread title you meant nicknames of surnames.

Up here in Monaghan nearly every common surame ( McKenna, Treanor, Connolly,Smyth etc ) have nicknames to differentiate different families. I know there's nicknames in West Limerick where you're grandfather's and fathers name are your nickname like you'd be Patrick Johnny Mick , instead of Patrick Murphy for example.

Ireland75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118119281#Comment_118119281

I was originally thinking of going by a nickname of Patrick which was Paudie. But apparently that isn't common. However as the thread had developed I'm thinking of going by the Irish version of my name

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118119271#Comment_118119271

There shouldn't be any issue with this. Many people have one version of their name in use on official documents and another version in common use and they are able to travel and work abroad. Just make sure your airline tickets match your passport, and other than that just use the spelling you prefer. An office or company in America for example would have no problem understanding that Bob and Robert for example are the same person, or that John is known as Jack. It's the same thing really with Patrick/Padraig/Paudie etc.

In my job there are many people who go by a different version of their name than the one that appears on their payslip, but also even some people who actually use a completely different name; they are called by their second name but their first name is on their documents. My job is in Ireland but it would be the same situation and easily understood in other countries.

It used to be possible for the Passport Office to put a note on one of the pages: "The bearer of this passport is also known as: ......". If you wish, you can find out if this is still possible, and request it the next time you are renewing your passport. Eventually, with enough documents showing that you have used a particular name for some years, you could potentially even change the name in your passport.

Ireland75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118119579#Comment_118119579

Thanks. Yeah hopefully people don't get confused. I guess Padraig and Patrick sound similar anyway, I could just go by both anyway if I need to. I probably wouldn't change it legally as that would probably be too complicated and expensive for me with all the documents I would have to change to

silliussoddius

Bloody Roman names.

stopthevoting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118119378#Comment_118119378

"...Paudie. But apparently that isn't common. ..."

That shouldn't matter. If it's what you like, use it.

But why do you say it's not common? If you are going by the CSO database of Baby Names, then a short version of a name (Paudie, Pat, Bob, Tony, Tom etc) is always going to appear less common in that list than the full version (Patrick, Robert, Anthony, Thomas) even though the short versions could be very common in actual usage. Eg, most people called Tony are probably registered as Anthony on their birth certs.

Ireland75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118119915#Comment_118119915

I haven't really come across any Patricks that go by Paudie's nowadays. I think it was used years ago but not used much now. I think the consensus that I'm getting is that I might get a few raised eyebrows nowadays if I went by Paudie short for Patrick.

stopthevoting

I know some Paudies, but you are right it is probably not very common. But nowadays people are very used to hearing various foreign and unusual names and I don't think there would be any raised eyebrows. I know some people with very individual or unique names. They are they only people I ever heard of with those names, but for me it's just their name. It makes no difference to most people how common someone else's name is. The only issue is possible difficulty with pronunciation or spelling, but if parents ruled out picking baby names for those reasons they would be left with a very limited list of names.

But after considering your options, if you have changed your mind and want to use Pádraig then that would be fine also.

As other posters have mentioned, it can be difficult to get people to use your preferred name. For example, many people seem to address people by names such as Paddy or Mick or Tom even if they would prefer to be addressed as Patrick, Michael or Thomas. Sometimes they follow what they hear other people saying, but sometimes they do this for new people they are meeting for the first time, and when they are told the full version of the name just assume that it's ok to use the short version.

And there are very many people in Ireland who are called by one name at school, at work, in the pub, in the street, but then are called by their original name when they go home to Mammy, or go to visit Granny.

Ireland75

Yeah, I get a lot of Paddy and Pats all the time. That's kind of the reason I was thinking of going by Padraig as I wouldn't mind being called Paudie or Padraig as much. I think I might just stick with Patrick for the moment and in a year or two might switch to Padraig more if I feel the same. I'm still only in my mid 20s so think I have a while to think about it

Larbre34

Plenty of Páidís in Gaeltacht areas, very common.

boardlady

Yes, as above. I live in rural Ireland and I know lots of Paudies. Some are young kids christened 'Paudie' and not a longer version.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111514#Comment_118111514

Some Irish language enthusiasts delight in annoying other people simply because they can. Combine that with the power trip of being a teacher and you get this.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118122159#Comment_118122159

Probably not many registered as Paudie, unless there is an exceptional concentration local to you. In the 11 years 2010 to 2020 inclusive a total of 92 Paudies were registered in the whole country. The top years were 2017 and 2020 with 13 each. 2010, 2011 and 2016 just 4 each.

It seems to have been a revival in recent years, because fewer than 3 (which I think is CSO language for zero) were registered in each of the 11 years before 2010. And probably further back but I did not look.

New Home

I know more than one person who's called three versions of their actual name, depending on who's calling them, e.g I know someone who's called Elizabeth only by her mother, Liz at work and Betty by her husband. It's funny because nobody in each group would ever call her by the other names, it'd feel odd, so nobody at work would ever call her Betty. Ditto for John/Sean/Jack. Lots of Deborahs go by Debbie, etc.