The long and the short of names in Irish

I REFER to the letter by Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon Ó Cuív (Irish Examiner, August 30) in answer to my letter published on August 11.

The long and the short of names in Irish

In response to the question whether to ‘v’ or not to ‘v’, Mr Ó Cuív states... “I will continue to use with pride the surname bestowed on me at birth by my parents.” Equally, shouldn’t the people of Dingle continue to use with pride the name bestowed on them by history?

Mr Ó Cuív, please do it correctly. In the annals, Dingle is called Daingean Uí Chuis. If you choose to shorten this, it would be Daingean, not An Daingean. (Actually the Irish form Daingean was anglicised Dingin which, in turn, became Dingle.) For tourists, wouldn’t it be advisable to have Daingean in big letters to emphasise the Gaeltacht aspect and Dingle in smaller block letters as a travel aid?

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