Irish surname please!

Rhamiel · 16-03-2011 09:44AM #1

Do you think Irish citizens with anglicised surnames should be encouraged to change their names back to their original Gaelic form? By deed poll... forever!

p.s. then we all go invade Northern Ireland :pac:

Biggins · 16-03-2011 09:54AM

What? More decisions shoved and forced down our throats? No thanks.

"Encouraged?" Yea, lets waste more money to bring this about. Daft idea.

CreepingDeath · 16-03-2011 09:58AM

Rhamiel wrote: »

Do you think Irish citizens with anglicised surnames should be encouraged to change their names back to their original Gaelic form?

I think that's a requirement in Sinn Fein judging by the election posters.

who the fug · 16-03-2011 10:00AM

Sweet suffering jesus, it be bad enough when people come into the office asking for the Nigerian gentleman (was accused of being Algerian another time) what are they going to do when it be AS Gailge

pickarooney · 16-03-2011 10:01AM

Mine is an anglicised surname. Should I be encouraged (with money) to change it back to its original mediaeval Breton?

Rhamiel · 16-03-2011 10:10AM

pickarooney wrote: »

Mine is an anglicised surname. Should I be encouraged (with money) to change it back to its original mediaeval Breton?

Sure... I have an anglicised surname myself and the thought just occurred to me when when I discovered gaelic origins of it myself after years of fretting over it being entirely anglo-saxon :P

I dont necessarily mean tax payers money should be put towards a government campaign to get everyone to do it.. just maybe that it could become socially acceptable for someone to go and change it back to its Gaelic origins by deed poll if they so choose

Dionysus · 16-03-2011 10:17AM

Rhamiel wrote: »

Do you think Irish citizens with anglicised surnames should be encouraged to change their names back to their original Gaelic form? By deed poll... forever!

Great; yet another thread by the vociferous anti-Irish lobby here to stir up hatred against Irish. Replace "Irish" with "immigrant" and these threads would all be closed without delay.

16-03-2011 10:17AM

Just no. This whole Irish thing is ridiculous. Back in the boom we could afford to have projects which encouraged us to explore our heritage, learn more Irish after school years, but at the moment we just can't afford to keep the Gael Brigade happy. It costs money to do everything twice. Once for the majority of the people in Ireland, the English speakers, and then again for all the people who accuse us of throwing away our heritage and trying to be English. The government is so concerned with keeping these people happy that it throws funding into Irish projects instead of something more worthwhile.

donutface · 16-03-2011 10:18AM

Arent you by Irish law allowed to use both anyway? Or is that only your first name

Notorious97 · 16-03-2011 10:19AM

No point wasting money on something like this, people can find out their surnames in Irish if they wish to quite easily and for free, i used my surname in both, through school and college it was Irish, work use my name in English, my first name is Irish, if i saw money being pumped into a scheme like this then its a huge waste of money, if people want to use it they can find it out easily as i said.

Rhamiel · 16-03-2011 10:21AM

Biggins wrote: »

What? More decisions shoved and forced down our throats? No thanks.

"Encouraged?" Yea, lets waste more money to bring this about. Daft idea.

Well actually I in fact I feel that my ancestors had the anglicisation of their family name shoved down their throats far more firmly than the mere mooting of this 'daft idea' so gimme a break please

As I mentioned in my post above I dont necessarily mean a government funded campaign, rather just something I'm putting out there for us to ponder as a culture and society.

It took someone like Muhammad Ali to stand up and reject the name put upon his family in their servitude so why shouldn't we as a people consider the point?

arybvtcw0eolkf · 16-03-2011 10:22AM

I do... Say's me with a Japanese username, a Germanic first name and an anglicised southern European surname

16-03-2011 10:25AM

Dionysus wrote: »

Great; yet another thread by the vociferous anti-Irish lobby here to stir up hatred against Irish. Replace "Irish" with "immigrant" and these threads would all be closed without delay.

I don't see the comparison. Not wanting Irish to be forced on people isn't the same as being discriminatory towards a section of the population. If we were saying English had to be forced on Irish speakers and we though it was ridiculous, would you agree then?

Mint Sauce · 16-03-2011 10:25AM

My names Scotish though.

who the fug · 16-03-2011 10:27AM

irish-stew wrote: »

My names Scotish though.

But the Scots were the original Irish

Wibbs · 16-03-2011 10:30AM

Dionysus wrote: »

Great; yet another thread by the vociferous anti-Irish lobby here to stir up hatred against Irish. Replace "Irish" with "immigrant" and these threads would all be closed without delay.

Brilliant bit of hyperbole and over reaction there D. *salutes*

some_dose · 16-03-2011 10:32AM

My surname is the same in English as it is in Irish so it makes no difference to me

Dionysus · 16-03-2011 10:32AM

true-or-false wrote: »

I don't see the comparison. Not wanting Irish to be forced on people isn't the same as being discriminatory towards a section of the population. If we were saying English had to be forced on Irish speakers and we though it was ridiculous, would you agree then?

And who said anything about "force"? The OP said, clearly, "encouraged". Once more anti-Irish language posters are inventing things in order to demonise Irish speakers. And these threads are incessant.

witchgirl26 · 16-03-2011 10:34AM

donutface wrote: »

Arent you by Irish law allowed to use both anyway? Or is that only your first name

You are indeed - my brother goes by his Irish name most of the time & has never officially changed it. My name is in Irish on my JC and LC. Also through college I went by my surname in Irish. Although have heard that there can be some problems if you're travelling & your passport is in your Irish name but you've booked the ticket fully in your English name. Confuses some of the staff in foreign airports which is fair enough as to them it looks like a different person.

tadcan · 16-03-2011 10:35AM

My name is of norman origin, so what do I do. In primary school we had to say our name in Irish every morning, and I was the only person in the class whose first name and surname had no equivalent in Irish.

St.Spodo · 16-03-2011 10:35AM

I'm not sure if ''Komodo'' is either Irish or English.

Dionysus · 16-03-2011 10:39AM

Wibbs wrote: »

Brilliant bit of hyperbole and over reaction there D. *salutes*

It's far from hyperbole. Witness your own comments in the bilingual signs thread which, amazingly, managed to blame Irish speakers for a state organisation's incompetence in fulfilling its statutory responsibility.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 16-03-2011 10:40AM

irish-stew wrote: »

My names Scotish though.

Ulick MacGee is that you?

davetherave · 16-03-2011 10:42AM

What about those of us who don't have an Irish version of a medieval english surname??
Do we get to make one up, because that's what I did in the Irish Oral in the LC all those years ago.

It is a kickass surname though. We had a guy who was executed for trying to assassinate the king of England. And another guy who was a (false) pretender to the throne but got found out and retreated to Ireland which is how the name came over here.

Eve_Dublin · 16-03-2011 10:55AM

Overeaction from people here. The OP is not saying this should be funded by taxpayers, she's putting it out there for discussion...would you be interested in changing your anglicised surname (if it has been anglicised) back to the original Gaelic version? This is not ACTUALLY happening so people can relax.

OP, I use my Irish surname in every circumstance except work because I had to show my passport when I was put on the system. Once my passport expires, I'm officially changing to the original Irish version. Why? Because I like the sound of it....it's much nicer than my anglocised surname and my first name is Irish and it goes well together.

Plus I'm proud of where I'm from and I want to distinguish myself in this small way. Nothing more.

Wibbs · 16-03-2011 10:59AM

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Overeaction from people here.

I agree. Its a fashion thing as much as anything else. Just like adding O and Mc to surnames in the late 19th century. Before that they had been rare enough. I don't see any harm in it at all.

angelfire9 · 16-03-2011 11:04AM

Our family surname is Spanish, can be traced back to the Armada so... no thanks!

Micilin Muc · 16-03-2011 11:05AM

who the fug wrote: »

But the Scots were the original Irish

Not all Scots were Gaelic. My surname is a Scottish lowland name, but just because I'm a fluent Irish speaker doesn't mean I should make up an Irish version.

I'm proud of my name in English as it reflects my father's family's history. I'm not going to pretend it's something it's not.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 16-03-2011 11:07AM

My surname is English and has no irish equivalent - you'll have to force Irishness down my troath some other way.

Predator_ · 16-03-2011 11:07AM

Rhamiel wrote: »

Do you think Irish citizens with anglicised surnames should be encouraged to change their names back to their original Gaelic form? By deed poll... forever!

p.s. then we all go invade Northern Ireland :pac:

They forced us to change our names to English when they oppressed us so I dont see anything wrong doing the other way around. And yes invade the North, only if we have an army capable of doing it though.

Xivilai · 16-03-2011 11:08AM

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

- you'll have to force Irishness down my troath some other way.

*Hopes you're not a guy*

Irish surname please!

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