People with Irish surnames - but no evidence of Irishness

miss no stars wrote: »

I've always found it very odd that Frank translates to Proinsias.

In one way I get how names can be translated - like Smith, comes from being the son of say, a blacksmith and it corresponds to whatever the son of a blacksmith would have been called in Germany, or Portugal, or wherever.

But I don't think it makes it the person's name. It makes it the corresponding name in another language, surely? There's more to a person's name than it just being a proper noun. It's wrapped up very intricately with how a person identifies themselves. Ever been in a loud area and someone calls your name and you hear it clearly and immediately notice that someone is trying to get your attention, whereas you can't hear another word they're saying? That's because your brain identifies your NAME as referring to YOU. Your brain doesn't identify Eoin is referring to you when your name is Jack and some gombeen in an Irish College decided you had to translate it.

I understand translating other proper nouns, for example, Germany is not a sentient being capable of recognizing its name; it's a landmass containing (mostly) ethinically and culturally linked people and buildings and stuff. Anglophones habitually refer to that specific place as Germany - the name they've given to it. Germans refer to it as Deutschland, French refer to it as Allemange. It doesn't matter as long as the meaning is efficiently conveyed. But when you're talking about a person, changing Eoin into Jean just because you're in France isn't going to help convey your meaning even to French people when they know Eoin O'Connor and you're referring to Jean. It's also unlikely that Eoin will know you're even referring to him.

I think it's a bizarre practice that's so often foisted on kids without option. I'm sure some find it a novelty, while others dislike it. But you can't get around the instinctive reaction to your own name. You just won't respond as quickly to a translation until you've been using it a very long time.

As for people who maximise their Irishness through adding impossible spellings dashed with Fadas? Their choice. I personally think it's a little silly when you're changing an easily understood name into something impossible (I say this having done battle all my life with trying to get people to spell/pronounce my un-translated name correctly). My personal opinion is that if they feel less Irish just because their name given to them at birth isn't littered with fadas, they need to take a look at why they don't feel Irish because a name alone shouldn't make you feel un-Irish if you are actually Irish.

The only place I've seen it make sense is when people in jobs like teaching are trying to hide their facebook profile from the kids they teach.