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<\/p>\nA mum was left fuming after she learned that her daughter\u2019s nursery had shortened her name because it was “too hard to pronounce”.<\/p>\n
Paris Tautu enrolled her daughter, Mahinarangi, in a day centre in New Zealand. Soon after, she was told that staff would call her then-five-year-old “Rangi”.<\/p>\n
Staff justified it by saying that they found Mahinarangi’s traditional Maori name, which means “moon in the sky”, too hard to pronounce.<\/p>\n
The mum also said children laugh at her daughter’s name and didn’t even bother to learn to pronounce it.<\/p>\n
The bullying has affected the young girl so much that she doesn\u2019t even try to correct people when they mispronounce it anymore.<\/p>\n
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Paris said her daughter’s name from the Ng\u0101ti Raukawa heritage has been passed down through several generations and has a deep line of descent, known as whakapapa, which often shows where someone is from.<\/p>\n
In a community\u00a0Facebook\u00a0post, Paris said: “Can you imagine your child being too embarrassed to say their name because people won’t make a decent effort to pronounce it properly?”<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sad that in 2021, in Aotearoa, a 5-year-old girl has lost the pride that comes with her beautiful name.<\/p>\n
“It made me so angry, especially because they’d use Maori resources in her classes.”<\/p>\n
Paris told\u00a0New Zealand Herald\u00a0that her ancestors endured a similar experience which has made her even more determined to make sure her daughter’s name is pronounced correctly and not changed.<\/p>\n
Don’t miss… <\/strong> She said: “My ancestors changed their original name from Perepe-Perana to Phillips because of colonisation.<\/p>\n “I will not let something similar happen with my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n The mum said she has now taught her daughter to break down her name into single syllables to educate people and help them to say her name correctly.<\/p>\n She also wants other parents to do the same and remind their children about the importance of their name if it is traditional and part of their culture.<\/p>\n “It’s important for our kids to be confident in their names, regardless of their ethnicity,” she said.<\/p>\n
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