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Being forced to use your "Irish" name at school

MadsL

My daughter attends a second-level gaelscoil that insists on calling her by a translation of her actual name that sound similar to her actual name but is in fact a different Irish name. She hates it and has frequently resisted it by saying to her teacher 'that's not my name'. Her teachers continually 'correct' her if she asserts that her name is her name by repeating the translated name back to her.

Should she put up with this? What does AH think?

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Madam

Can't see what the problem is, if every other child in school is called by their Irish name - would your child not feel a little different? Didn't do me any harm being called one thing at school and another at home:)

Scortho

MadsL wrote: »

I thought I made it plain that these were my daughter's views???

Why is it an either/or choice?

Sorry I missed that part.
Even still if I'm catholic and I go to a Coi school I hardly expect them to give me a catholic education. I'd expect to be given an Anglican one.
It's a gaelscoil. It's the way they operate. Likewise if she goes to the Gaeltacht during the summer shell most likely be called the same way.
That said if her name is rihanna madsl I'd be annoyed if I was being called Rhiannon ní Mhadsl.
If my name is Ann king and they were calling me aine nic an Rí I wouldn't be. It's part of the parcel of an irish school. That said if it annoys her so much go and have a chat with the principal. It may not have any effect however.

Jarrod

HondaSami wrote: »

You are missing the point completely, Irish speaking schools only speak Irish, how is this wrong? would you not expect to be addressed in Irish?

I'd expect to be spoken to in Irish but why you'd translate a name is beyond me. As I said we'd a number of people with foreign names in school but the teachers never tried to translate them into English and I've no idea why they would. If my name was John and I moved to France I wouldn't start introducing myself as Jean.

Why would they not just speak to the students in Irish but call them by their actual names?

I think that secondary school can be a particularly tough time in a child's life and what the OP describes is just not on. I also think there's no way it would happen in reverse, i.e. an English speaking school insisting on calling students with Irish names by anything other than their name.

hoodwinked

Emma for the win!

everyone should be named Emma! :pac:

endacl

Deleted User wrote: »

I wonder would they change the name of someone called Mohammed for example?

Mohammad Ali's Mother's Maiden Name Was O'Grady. He'd be Mó Grádhaigh'

Easy!

robinph

HondaSami wrote: »

I don't get you tbh, she is attending an Irish speaking school and they are addressing her in her Irish name, this is what i would expect if i sent my kids to an Irish speaking school.
They have not changed her name, they are using the Irish version, why is it a problem? if they were speaking english in and Irish speaking school it would be more worrying imo.

But the kids name is still the same.

If they moved to France for instance would you expect their name to be changed at school?

Seachmall

Deleted User wrote: »

I've an Irish name. I'd be pretty pissed if my English speaking school tried to change it.

Same here. I've an Irish name with an Irish spelling but there's a pretty common Anglecised version of it. In school when a teacher spelt it the Anglecised way and I'd correct them not once did they turn around and say "This is an English speaking school, this is how you will spell your name here!". And, like you, I'd be fairly annoyed if they did. Them pronouncing it wrong would be even more annoying.

Cosmicfox

Deleted User wrote: »

I wonder would they change the name of someone called Mohammed for example? Or is it just names that are easy to change to Irish?

I've an Irish name. I'd be pretty pissed if my English speaking school tried to change it.

I wasn't in a gaelscoil but they still changed everyone's names, except for a muslim girl called Aasiyah (I think that's how it's spelt) and for some reason mine, which isn't an unusual name.

HondaSami

robinph wrote: »

Someones name does not change just because of what language you are speaking in though.

If a Richard and Ricardo met in a pub they would merely comment of the curiosity of having different versions of the same name, but one would still be called Richard and the other Ricardo regardless of where the pub they were having a pint in was located or what language they happened to be chatting in.

We were all called by our Irish names in school, it's the same name but in Irish, it sounds different and the spelling is different but it is the same name.

Senna

Its ridiculous that a child is being called by a name they don't associate with or want to be called. Typical Gaelscoil where they have their own agenda.

Lelantos

Cosmicfox wrote: »

I wasn't in a gaelscoil but they still changed everyone's names, except for a muslim girl called Aasiyah (I think that's how it's spelt) and for some reason mine, which isn't an unusual name.

Cosmicsionnach?

endacl

Cosmicfox wrote: »

I wasn't in a gaelscoil but they still changed everyone's names, except for a muslim girl called Aasiyah (I think that's how it's spelt) and for some reason mine, which isn't an unusual name.

Cosmicfox is a totally unusual name!

shruikan2553

People with Irish names don't get their names translated to English so why should it happen the other way. It always confused me as a child why a teacher would called me a name in a foreign language when it wasn't my name.

I was talking to a girl who went to an irish speaking secondary school that was told she had to use her "Irish name" on the CAO to get the extra points and had to spend weeks trying to clear things up with the college to get them to have her name changed to her actual name, all because the school think it is prestigious to show you came from an irish speaking school.

humbert

Take in an Irish-English dictionary with you and ask them to show you the translation of her name.

HondaSami

Senna wrote: »

Its ridiculous that a child is being called by a name they don't associate with or want to be called. Typical Gaelscoil where they have their own agenda.

This is like saying i want to send my child to a Gaelscoil but i don't want them to speak Irish.

Ann22

All my primary school (not a gaelscoil) teachers called me by my Irish name. I just got used to it. My Irish teachers in secondary school did the same. My son has an Irish name tho' he says his teacher calls all their names in Irish for the role call. Dunno why.

Gatling

Senna wrote: »

Its ridiculous that a child is being called by a name they don't associate with or want to be called. Typical Gaelscoil where they have their own agenda.

Yeah teaching Gaelic for use in every day life after all its our language,
Maybe they might be planning something big

dub_skav

Senna wrote: »

Its ridiculous that a child is being called by a name they don't associate with or want to be called. Typical Gaelscoil where they have their own agenda.

Exactly, in sending a child there you open them up to that agenda

MadsL

WayneMolloy wrote: »

Send her to an English speaking school if it irks you so much.

Can you not read what I posted in the OP? It bothers her. And changing school when she is getting a very good education is ridiculous.

endacl wrote: »

Or you could offer a little guidance around overreacting to percieved attacks on identity? I don't know what your daughter's name is. In English, Irish, or Klingon. Yet her sense of herself remains, I presume, entirely intact? She'll likely take her lead from her mother. If you confirm its a big deal, then a big deal it will forever be...

No one is making it a big deal except the teachers who are stubbornly resistant to her attempts to change how they refer to her. I do feel she has the right to express her wishes and have them respected.

HondaSami wrote: »

I don't get you tbh, she is attending an Irish speaking school and they are addressing her in her Irish name, this is what i would expect if i sent my kids to an Irish speaking school.
They have not changed her name, they are using the Irish version, why is it a problem? if they were speaking english in and Irish speaking school it would be more worrying imo.

Speaking English?? It is one word of someone's name.

If Áine went to school in England and they insisted on calling her Anne would you feel the same?

Seachmall

HondaSami wrote: »

They have not changed her name, they are using the Irish version, why is it a problem?

They have changed her name.

If your name is "Hope" it's "Hope". It doesn't change to "Dóchas" because of where you happen to be at that time. You can't tell someone their name is in the wrong language.

Likewise if someone's name is "Darlin" you can't tell them their name is actually "Darling" and that their name is spelt wrong.

Rayne Wooney

Senna wrote: »

Its ridiculous that a child is being called by a name they don't associate with or want to be called. Typical Gaelscoil where they have their own agenda.

A friend of mine, his name is Gav. First day in secondary school and the teachers all started calling him Gabháin. He said he didn't want to be called that and said it upset him, got his parents to go in and talk to the teacher, problem solved the teachers called him Gav from then on.

That's all the OP has to do.

Madam

Gatling wrote: »

Yeah teaching Gaelic for use in every day life after all its our language,
Maybe they might be planning something big

World domination?

robinph

HondaSami wrote: »

This is like saying i want to send my child to a Gaelscoil but i don't want them to speak Irish.

How does calling a person by a different name help with learning a language?

Gatling

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

A friend of mine, his name is Gav. First day in secondary school and the teachers all started calling him Gabháin. He said he didn't want to be called that and said it upset him, got his parents to go in and talk to the teacher, problem solved the teachers called him Gav from then on.

That's all the OP has to do.

Typically teenage strop fight the power

HondaSami

MadsL wrote: »

If Áine went to school in England and they insisted on calling her Anne would you feel the same?

It's not the same thing at all, if you go to a Gaelscoil you speak Irish and only Irish, you learn everything through Irish.
Am i correct in saying they are calling her by her Irish name? they have not changed her name, it's the same name but in Irish.

Irish_wolf

My name is Seán, so I never really had to deal with this issue. But in primary school the roll was called out using everyone's irish name, or as close as they could get. I never heard any complaints. It was just the done thing.

As for losing your identity because the teacher wont use your proper name. I think that's a little extreme. Throughout secondary school I had loads of nicknames, lots, and I answered to everyone of them. None were malicious mind you but some were quite odd. Nicknames from different years, or different groups. I also had two brothers in the school so often times the teacher would call me by their names by mistake and not even realise. I didn't correct them or get annoyed by any of this because it didn't matter to me.

She is attending a gaelscoil. This is how things are done in a gaelscoil. It doesnt matter if they wouldnt change your name in france or germany. All that matters is that gaelscoils change your name to a more irishy sounding name so it suits better in a conversation/essay/form. Helps with the flow of conversation if you dont have to change the way you speak in order to pronounce a foreign word, hence why we have our own names for cities and countries of the world. Sometimes this cant be done with people who have extremely foreign names but with an irish person with a standard name this is what happens. You can either get over it and tell her it could be worse, or take action which might actually make things worse.

Miss Lockhart

Has the school got a written policy on this? Most do.

I worked in France for a while and my name was translated.

Jarrod

HondaSami wrote: »

This is like saying i want to send my child to a Gaelscoil but i don't want them to speak Irish.

It's not even remotely like that. Your name identifies you, it should never be translated as when it is, it is no longer your name. If I meet a bloke in the pub called Jean, that's his name. If we speak in English I'll call him Jean and if we speak in French I'll call him Jean. At no point does his name become John, Joao, Giovanni or anything else. This is the case no matter where Jean goes.

Why wouldn't the teachers speak in Irish but retain the student's names? You know, like everybody else who interacts around the world on a daily basis.

Seachmall

HondaSami wrote: »

Am i correct in saying they are calling her by her Irish name? they have not changed her name, it's the same name but in Irish.

It's not her Irish name because she doesn't have an Irish name.

Her name is an English one. It's stupid to tell her it's in the wrong language.

WayneMolloy

MadsL wrote: »

Can you not read what I posted in the OP? It bothers her. And changing school when she is getting a very good education is ridiculous.

Exactly, they provide children with great educations. She is lucky to be in a gaelscoil, many would be happy to take her place.

An Irish speaking school insists on using the Irish version of her name - oh the inhumanity of it all!