As the first Irish man to win a Best Actor Oscar, Cillian Murphy also had the distinct honor of having his name pronounced correctly to a viewing audience of millions. But according to a recent article in Irish Central, leading tech companies are dropping the Gaelic football.
The UK based organization I Am Not A Typo (IANAT) are campaigning to have spell checks updated to reflect a diverse world of names. In their open letter to Tech Giants, IANAT states, "Huge numbers of names popular in the UK are wrong, according to our devices' English (UK) dictionaries. The names deemed wrong indicate that our devices don't reflect a multi-cultural UK."
Analyzing data in Northern Ireland, the group found that 36% of Irish girl names were listed as typos, and over half of boy names were seen as mistakes, an "othering" experience, especially for children. So, this St. Patrick's Day, as you struggle to pronounce "Saoirse Ronan" correctly, especially after many pints of green beer, know it's for a good cause.
