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?
Finally, I also use the name bestowed on me at birth by my parents. It is not in Irish since I was born in Butte, Montana, USA, where the number of Irish speakers was as few as the number Ó Cuívs in the greater Ó Caoimh clan.
Denis Healy
Árd na Mara
Courtmacsherry
Co Cork
