A mom has taken to social media to complain about a daycare center deliberately shortening her daughter's "beautiful" name.
The NZ Herald reports that the mother in question is New Zealand native Paris Tautu, who was left perturbed after discovering that a local daycare center in Palmerston North had shortened her five-year-old daughter's Māori name from "Mahinarangi" to simply "Rangi".
When asked why they had chosen to do so, staff at the daycare allegedly told the mom it was because her classmates found her indigenous name too difficult to pronounce.
According to The Herald, the shortening of Māori names has serious cultural and semantic significance. The word: "Rangi" in isolation translates to "sky" while "Mahina" means "moon".
Shortening the name to just two syllables thus changes the girl's name completely according to indigenous naming conventions.
In a since-deleted Facebook post, an outraged Paris wrote earlier this month:
"Can you imagine your child being too embarrassed to say their name because people won't make a decent effort to pronounce it properly?
"I am sad that in 2021, in Aotearoa, a 5-year-old girl has lost the pride that comes with her beautiful name. It made me so angry, especially because they'd use te ao Māori resources in her classes.
"I have taught her to break down her name into single syllables to educate people and help them with correct pronunciation. She feels a sense of pride when people give it a go."
Paris then later shared another post on Facebook which broke down the cultural offense the changing of her daughter's name had caused her, which reads (in part): "Every time you shorten someone's name because you don't want to pronounce it correctly, you're being racist.
"Every time you knowingly mispronounce a Māori name, you're being racist. Our lives as Tangata Whenua is already whitewashed as it is. Give us a break.
"You're saying that my language isn't important enough for you to learn and say properly. You're saying that my ancestral names aren't important enough for you to say properly. You're saying that my culture isn't important enough for you to respect.
"If you don't know how to pronounce it: learn, research, ask, educate yourself. "
Commenting on the incident in a later interview with The Herald, Paris stated: "My ancestors changed their original name from 'Perepe-Perana' to 'Phillips' because of colonization. I will not let something similar happen with my daughter."
In other news, a woman was left furious with Southwest Airlines after one of their flight attendants allegedly mocked her five-year-old daughter's name.
The mom, Traci Redford, and her daughter were boarding a flight from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California to their home in El Paso, Texas back in 2018 when Traci heard a giggle coming from one of the airline staff.
Traci claimed that the giggling was coming from a flight agent who was openly making fun of her daughter's name, Abcde - pronounced Abcidy.
Abcde has epilepsy and was pre-boarding with her mother when the incident is said to have occurred.
In addition to the flight agent reportedly laughing and mocking Abcde's name, Traci then claimed she shared a picture of her daughter's boarding pass to Facebook.
Speaking to ABC7, Traci said, "The gate agent started laughing, pointing at me and my daughter, talking to other employees.
"So I turned around and said, 'Hey if I can hear you, my daughter can hear you, so I'd appreciate if you'd just stop.' While I was sitting there, she took a picture of my boarding pass and chose to post it on social media, mocking my daughter.
"It was actually brought to my attention by somebody who had seen it on Facebook and reported it to Southwest Airlines. And after two weeks of doing a formal complaint, Southwest hadn't done anything."
Traci then revealed that her daughter seemed confused by the situation as to why somebody would be laughing at her name.
"She said 'Mom, why is she laughing at my name?' And I said not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice and it's unfortunate.'"
