In the name of ...
It only really penetrated my tiny mind recently that the way we have named our children has been an announcement to the family and world in general that it's extremely unlikely that we will ever move back to N.I. to live.
Naturally M was already aware of the ramifications of using traditional Irish names, and I sort of knew but hadn't really put it into those words.
I think I regret it slightly, although I love their names. It's a bit like I have cut the children off from a possibility without fully appreciating what I was doing. I wish he'd thought to point out to me (in words of one-syllable :D) what it meant; but I guess he's known he doesn't want to go back there ever since he first got out.
There is always the hope that the situation in N.I. will improve to the extent that the conflicting messages sent out by their plastic-paddy name vs. accents (and dubious parentage :P ;)) won't be a problem. And that political leanings won't be deduced from names that just seemed rather nice. I won't venture an opinion on N.I. apart from I wish they'd all "be excellent to each other" (thanks be to Bill & Ted). Things are better over there than they were, but there's still a long way to go. It did hearten me when we went over last time to see a great deal of regeneration in his hometown.
And I may even be over-estimating the difficulty it could cause for them in the first place. Not that we have ever seriously considered moving over there permanently, so it's all pretty much moot anyway...
1 comment:
Well, when FIL heard what we'd called T, he said "He'll never be able to walk down a street in East Belfast". (He might also have been a bit miffed because it's traditional to name the first-born son after the father's father, ie. him. :) Although it's not a convention most follow anymore.)
I guess it's that traditional Irish names (like Tigernach, Riordan or Padraig) say "Fenian filth" while Anglicised names (like Paul, Richard or William) say "Loyalist lowlife". It speaks to your stereotypical heritage/politics/religion.
Since M comes from a Proddie/loyalist background, (although he's an atheist and his family are more apathist :) than anything active politically or religiously, as with much of the population) it means our choice of names seems a rejection of that background, while we don't lean the other way either.
It signifies more than I realised, at any rate.
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