Naming a baby is an important task in every parent’s life. Some parents choose a name that simply sounds nice to them, while others decide to give unique names so their kids will stand out. Some decide to honor someone they know or like, or maybe honor a culture they’re from or are fond of. This is the instance of today’s story — a woman honoring Irish culture by giving her baby an Irish name. Only to find out that the name isn’t Irish at all.
More info: Reddit
You have to do research when you’re naming your baby so you don’t end up spreading false information about that name
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
The Irish author’s sister-in-law named her baby what she claimed to be an Irish name, while the person clearly understands that’s it’s not Irish at all
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
Image credits: gdtography (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Top-Process4882
The author told their sister-in-law the truth about the name, but she didn’t let go of her own truth
The OP is Irish, while their husband is American. His sister was always obsessed with the person’s accent, name, and overall Irishness.
So, when the SIL was pregnant, she told the OP that she’d name her baby an Irish name. After finding out the name, the person knew that the name wasn’t actually Irish. They never said anything to their SIL, as they weren’t supposed to know the name (their husband told them), and the woman never asked about it.
When the SIL’s daughter was born, she announced the name to everyone and talked about wanting an Irish name because of the OP. At the same time, her husband asked her to stop saying the name was Irish. When the woman got mad at him, the person jumped into the fight. They said that the name was Scottish and not Irish. But that didn’t matter to the woman — she insisted that the name was Irish, as, in her eyes, Irish and Scottish cultures are the same thing.
The evening ended with the OP’s SIL being angry that the difference was pointed out to her and that her husband was disagreeing with her in the first place. And so, the word about how horrible the OP was being had spread.
Folks online had a different opinion. They thought that the sister-in-law was actually a bad person. Well, not bad but rude for sure. They called out her phrase that “Irish and Scottish names are the same” as cultural appropriation. That’s the action of members of a majority social group adopting cultural elements of a minority group disrespectfully or stereotypically.
So, maybe internet folks are onto something — the SIL’s phrase really sounded unpleasant. Just as her clinging onto the belief that her chosen name was Irish when it wasn’t and blaming others for telling the truth.
Image credits: CHUTTERSNAP (not the actual photo)
To get more insight into the baby naming world, Bored Panda reached out to baby name consultant SJ Strum.
Talking about the Reddit story, SJ said that it’s a shame that the mother didn’t choose a name that was actually Irish. If she would have shared it beforehand, maybe someone would have told her that the name is actually Scottish. “Now she needs to decide if she likes the name more than the idea of having an authentically Irish name, which I’m sure she does.
“Hopefully, she eventually sees the funny side, and it becomes a sweet family story — and if the name to her feels Irish, then that’s all that matters for her baby.”
If you ever find yourself in a similar situation as the mother from the story, SJ advises: “If you’re choosing the name specifically for its Irish Heritage, I’d say go for the traditional spelling, too — but test it out on friends and family first to see how many times you’ll have to spell it out and pick your battles!”
According to the baby name consultant, Irish names are very popular everywhere, but especially in America. Evidently, a lot of people in the US have Scottish and Irish heritage, and by naming their babies, they want to honor it. “It’s common for people to look at Celtic names, which include names from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and more, and get confused — but if someone wants a traditional Irish name, they need to look at Irish name data specifically.”
For instance, SJ said that the name Isla is often thought to be Irish. It’s all because its meaning is ‘Island’ and so it reminds people of Ireland. However, it’s Scottish, not Irish. Similarly with the name Patrick — because of St. Patrick’s Day, it’s thought to be Irish, while in reality, it’s Latin, as St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain.
At the same time, there are some popular names you might not know are of Irish origin — Liam, Riley, and Connor are of Irish origin.
And if you are looking for more Irish names, SJ states that a great place to start is the Central Statistics Office’s of Ireland’s list of registered baby names in Ireland each year.
So, if you ever want to name your child with a name from a certain origin, make sure to do your research before so you aren’t like the mother from the story clinging to a truth that is actually a lie.
People online unitedly decided that the woman was wrong to get mad at everyone for telling her the truth and even accused her of cultural appropriation
