# How to spell Michael in Irish?



## Janet

Can anyone confirm how to spell Michael in Irish?  I'm pretty sure there's a fada on the "a" but is there also one on the "i"?  Mícheál or Micheál?

Thanks!


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## mobileme

2nd spelling without the fada on the i, I think!


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## Janet

That's what I think too.  That's now four out of five people who agree with me so I'll go with that spelling.

Go raibh maith agat!


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## ClubMan

I reckon that it's Mícheál (síne fada on the 'i' and the 'a') and  seem to support this.


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## 90210

I have as far as I can remember used my English language name (e.g. john smith). Is it an issue to use your Irish name instead of your English name or perfectly acceptable, can you just switch if and when you feel like it?

I remember I registered for my GAA association many moons ago and used my Irish name as I was registered with a Rugby club under my English name and to be playing both sports was a no-no.


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## CCOVICH

Would you not have to register your name in Irish with the GAA anyway?  I remember our managers having to give the referee teamsheets in Irish when I played underage football (but that was in Donegal where pretty much everyone had the cupla focal).


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## damson

You could just avoid putting either a dot or a fada on it, like our esteemed Minister (see signature after foreword).


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## hansov

When I woz   goin to skool there woz a fada on da a but knot on da i. But me english spelin woz bad den too. "m i c he a fada l"


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## hansov

Janet said:
			
		

> That's what I think too. That's now four out of five people who agree with me so I'll go with that spelling.
> 
> Go raibh maith agat!


Hey Janet - that should be agaibh (or some spelling like that "agat" in plural )

Wow - I hated Irish in school - yet it does come back to you, especially when you are abroad and want to say something that you want nobody else to understand. Just like Hector  . It must have been the way it was beaten into us  .


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## Janet

hansov said:
			
		

> Hey Janet - that should be agaibh (or some spelling like that "agat" in plural )
> 
> .



Well, only one person had replied to me at that stage so......


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## Magoo

Surely the Irish version of a name has no more of a legal status than a nickname or any other AKA.

If your name is John Byrne, you have much right to call yourself Osama bin Laden as you do Sean O'Broinn (assuming I've spelled that right).  John Byrne appears on your birth cert so why should you be asked to identify yourself as anything other than your real name? 

If someone was to ask you for,say, the Chinese, French or Spanish version of your name, would you feel equally compelled to find out what it was?


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## Jildy

It is Micheal (with a fada on the e).


It is my name so I know !!!


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## ClubMan

There's no long "e" as signified by é in the name so that is strictly wrong even if that's how you were named. I still stand by my suggestion of _Mícheál_.


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## Queenspawn

> You could just avoid putting either a dot or a fada on it, like our esteemed Minister


 ...what call the yolk over the "a" then?


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## DrMoriarty

Micheál is the correct spelling. If you put a fada on the 'i' you lengthen it, so it would be pronounced 'mee-hawl' (RTE-style), rather than the correct pronunciation 'me-hawl'...


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## ClubMan

[broken link removed] spells his name with a fada on the 'i' and the 'a'. This FAQ also spells it the same way. I thought that "mee-hawl" was the correct pronunciation although I can't distinguish it from the other phonetic version above anyway.


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## DrMoriarty

Knowing him as I do, he probably wishes to distinguish himself from lesser mortals, _viz_.

"...Micheál Ó Súilleabháin?"
"Oh, you mean M*í*cheál Ó Súilleabháin..."

We just refer to him as Micí Mór around Limerick...


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## ClubMan

Wikipedia is also usually reliable.


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## damson

damson said:
			
		

> You could just avoid putting either a dot or a fada on it, like our esteemed Minister (see signature after foreword).





			
				Queenspawn said:
			
		

> ...what call the yolk over the "a" then?


I meant over the I.
Sure we all (except Jildy) are agreed there's a fada on the A.

I'd almost go so far as to say the Minister's lack of a dot or a fada on his I is deliberate and a typical example of political fence-sitting, as he was fed up of people saying "Of course, you haven't spelled your name the correct Irish way" whichever way he wrote it. And that would never do. But maybe that's just cynicism on my part.


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## DrMoriarty

ClubMan said:
			
		

> Wikipedia is also usually reliable.


Usually, but not always, being assembled as it is by voluntary/non-reviewed contributors.

I've a number of pedantic _Gaeilgeoir_ colleagues - the type that eschew *0'* in favour of *Ó*, etc. - and they all write 'Micheál'.

P.S. @damson: if you put a fada on the 'i' and not the 'a', it's pronounced '_mee_-hal'. Even RTE newsreaders haven't done that ...yet!


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## ClubMan

What about all the other sites that spell it _Mícheál_? Are they wrong too?


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## DrMoriarty

I'll have to ask the pedantic _Gaeilgeoirí...  _

Bear in mind that the people who write/mark up webpages aren't usually as fussy about grammar/punctuation/spelling as certain bearers of the names in question.

My own first name is Irish (but with no accents) and people invariably misspell it, substituting a terminal 'gh' for the correct 'ch'. But I'm too busy flinching at errors elsewhere in their writing to worry about it! Most recent example was from a (final-year languages) student who wrote about how such-and-such could be stated 'without fear of exaduration'...


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## ClubMan

DrMoriarty said:
			
		

> Bear in mind that the people who write/mark up webpages aren't usually as fussy about grammar/punctuation/spelling as certain bearers of the names in question.


Yes - but if so many site owners went to the trouble of spelling it _Mícheál_ then it would seem to suggest that there's something in it...


> My own first name is Irish (but with no accents) and people invariably misspell it, substituting a terminal 'gh' for the correct 'ch'. But I'm too busy flinching at errors elsewhere in their writing to worry about it! Most recent example was from a (final-year languages) student who wrote about how such-and-such could be stated 'without fear of exaduration'...


Yeah - I read recently about a football club attempting to "affray" the costs associated with a high security game. Without meaning to be precious about it I sometimes wonder about our education system when basic literacy (e.g. correct word usage, basic spelling and punctuation etc.) seems to be such a problem for so many people...


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## DrMoriarty

...and yet it's claimed here that 'Ireland's 15-year-olds are the second most literate in the EU'. I can only assume that they disimprove upon entry to higher education! 

As for the 'Micheál _vs_. Mícheál' debate - it may well be that both options are permissible. A bit like 'y'haw!' _vs_. 'yee-haaaaw!'...?


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## Janet

Search for "exaduration" on google and it throws up quite a few (although by google standards maybe not _that_ many) hits.  

Anyway, to get back to my original simple question (who knew it would spark debate), in the end we went with Micheál.  The person we were writing to uses a full Irish name and always has done as far as I know.  I'm sure he'll mention it for future reference if we got it wrong.


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## DrMoriarty

I have to admit there was a beautifully simple logic to it - 'duration' ...'exaduration'.  

Ah, where's Mark Twain when you need him..?


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## BlueSpud

You say "Potato", I say "Potaato"...............


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