In New Zealand, a mother was dismayed after learning that the nursery school had changed her daughter’s traditional name without her approval.
Mahinarangi Tautu, 5, has a traditional name and it was changed by teachers at the day center in New Zealand to “Rangi”. Her Maori mom, Paris, has now struck out and worries that her daughter has lost her “pride” because of the move.
The name is traditional of their Ngāti Raukawa heritage, a Maori tribe from the central region of the North Island of New Zealand.
It has a deep line of descent, known as whakapapa, which often shows where someone is from. Not giving someone their full name can be seen as a lack of respect.
The name Mahinarangi has been passed down through Tautu’s tūpuna (ancestors) and acknowledges their whakapapa.
“Mahinarangi is a leading tūpuna in my iwi,” Paris said, “I have taught my daughter the meaning of her name and how much mana it has. I tell her to be strong and proud just like her tūpuna was.”
She was horrified to hear that they found Mahinarangi’s Maori name, too hard to pronounce, while Paris added that cruel children laughed at her daughter’s traditional name.
“I am sad that in 2021, in Aotearoa, a 5-year-old girl has lost the pride that comes with her beautiful name,” Paris wrote in a Facebook post.
Even at school, Mahinarangi still gets her name mispronounced and peers laugh. She has often been too embarrassed to correct anyone.
Mahinarangi said she’d put in the effort to sound out new words in school, but told her mother that many people would still not take the time to say her name properly.
“Can you imagine your child being too embarrassed to say their name because people won’t make a decent effort to pronounce it properly?” Paris said. “It made me so angry, especially because they’d use te ao Māori resources in her classes.”
Paris told New Zealand Herald that her ancestors experienced a similar experience which has made her even more determined to make sure her daughter’s name is pronounced correctly and not changed.
“My ancestors changed their original name from Perepe-Perana to Phillips because of colonization,” she said. “I will not let something similar happen with my daughter.”
Mahinarangi’s name translates to “moon in the sky”, with her mom explaining that shortening it takes away its “mana”, a traditional Māori belief of inherited spiritual power.
And not giving someone the mana their name ought to have, takes away the importance of its meaning and can be seen as a lack of respect.
Maori culture is an essential part of life in New Zealand and it influences cuisine, customs, and language. It also features the underworld in many Maori stories.
The indigenous people of New Zealand came to the country more than 1000 years ago from their mythical Polynesian homeland of Hawaiki, which is the original home of the Polynesians in Polynesian mythology.
In an effort to help her daughter introduce herself with pride, Paris has taught Mahinarangi to break down her name into single syllables to educate people in saying her name correctly.
“It’s important for our kids to be confident in their names, regardless of their ethnicity,” she said. “Our language isn’t complicated, pronouncing a name properly is massive to us.”
“Your name is your identity. Your parents give you your name for a reason,” she added.
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