I didn't think this name would be so unpopular

Birthday cake, did you wear a blazer? MIL was horrified that my kids went to a community school and didn't have blazers.
I had no idea what was happening in Latin, too many Greeks and gods for me.
I think the lack of modern foreign language uptake in England is awful - threads on kids not taking a language because they want to be an architect -at 14!

@bebesidethesea those are cool examples! Good ways to find a spy, haha.

@annamaria14, yeah it's a surname but it's pronounced Fenshaw on purpose, to weed out the undesirables such as ourselves, with our haitches, ors and feather-stone-haas.

@annamaria14 quick Google where you are from! Pathetic too that you also have to gang up with another user ha ha ha jesus wept

Conas atá tú?

@eggandonion my school had compulsory Latin too! The only subject I ever got an À in...

@Annamaria14 you're right, I think it should be an optional subject after a certain age, just as any other second language - I do agree with it being compulsory for at least the formative years though. There's no point keeping it mandatory until 6th form/LC though because that just makes the kids rebel against it doesn't it

@pangur2 I need to break out my cuplá focal to settle this argument 😂😂

@Annamaria14 none of us are Irish enough to kiss the end of @Vgtasd's shillelagh.

Is fearherstonhaugh a name

I think you are right @Pangur2 I love those kinds of things from a sociological perspective, but most of those I know of are place names: Towcester (toaster), the Cinq Ports in East Sussex (sink not the French sank - saying sank indicated you were a spy/invader).

I keep thinking of my old friend Proinseas who we used to call princess. Good days

Persevere, he’s gonna have his whole life with his name either misspelt or mispronounced. I love the name Cillian, it’s a beautiful name! I have a Lorcán and I used to get annoyed now I don’t I just correct them now x

I'm from the north too, but so old we had compulsory Latin, I had no idea what was going on. My dh has good Latin. If he's meeting someone with an unusual Irish name he checks how it is pronounced. Like a normal person.
My MIL does the thing about what kids will say in school, every baby that arrives.

I have never heard of that name but then again I'm not Irish or familiar with Irish names.
On reading it for the first time in your OP I read it in my head as silly-an. I think you should be prepared for people to get it wrong first time but after that there is no excuse

I like to learn so I wouldn't make the same mistake again.
And like wise your family shouldn't make the same mistake again either - it's not difficult to learn how to pronounce a name.

Congratulations by the way

(Oh no, now that I've shown I understand how to pronounce Featherstonhaugh my cover of being a British Lord is blown and I've proved @Vgtasd right! Blast it etc!)

@Vgtasd me and Pangur (who you have accused of being middle class English) ste both Irish.

Pangur said that she is from Ballymun.

Do you think that you are the only Irish person in existsnce?!

@BeBesideTheSea I can sort of understand the pronunciation of St John; it does sound like Sinjin if you say it fast. Am I right in thinking that Featherstonhaugh is a sort of shibboleth; it gives away your class as you would only know how to pronounce it if you moved in posh circles?
Well, back in the day before you could Google it anyway, haha!

Sorry - I took so long to post that I have dumped in the middle of the debate about compulsory learning of Irish!

@pangur2 another middle class sell out I'm sure. I bet you applied for an Irish passport once brexit came 🙄

Haha @Pangur2

OP everything @FizzyGreenWater said.

Your family are being dicks. They know full well how to say Cillian now you've told them, but they object to the fact you gave your DS an Irish name and they're being passive aggressive about it. At best they're being immature, at worst racist.

My Dad had this when I was born. Mam is Welsh and I have a Welsh name. Granny wasn't happy and rang my Dad up to complain 'what the fuck did you call her that for? How the hell am I meant to learn how to say that?' He told her to fuck off and learn it if she wanted to see any of us again.

She never mispronounced it once in my presence

Honestly I would withhold contact until the learn. No phone calls, no pictures, no updates until they pronounce Cillian's name correctly. If it continues after lockdown then no visits to see him, no cuddles. You wouldn't want silly old Granny and Grandad's memory problems to confuse DS now, would you? Oh dear, they'd better not see him then until they've learned.

You need to have a right go at them. If my PIL pull this stunt (and they may well as they've told me on several occasions that I mustn't give any of my kids a Welsh name) I will expect DH to lay down the law straight away.

@abiirthdaycake yes but wouldnt you like to be option in school,

Rather than mandatory

@Vgtasd you want to tone down that aggression! It will be good for your health

I'm from Northern Ireland and my school didn't offer Irish as an option at all, I've had to do all my learning myself with online courses etc. I wish I'd got to do it in school when my mind was more malleable!

@Vgtasd if you really want some release, look up the #paddynotpatty hashtag on Twitter. Your head will explode. You'll get your fill of plastic paddies being called out for sure. It'll be cathartic.

My ds has pass Irish. He can say he likes Big Mac and chips, and he could write an essay from sixth class about an accident, with various sentences that fitted into all other possible essays.
My dd1 has excellent Irish. I think it should be ditched after Junior Cert, I feel sorry for teachers trying to teach non cooperative teenagers.