Join Us

What to do? #

Irish or not, dear reader, we urge you to join in the effort to keep the apostrophe in Irish names. Support companies and services that accept correctly spelt names in the name field. Write to your bank, retail store, airline, and any other wayward entities and urge them to observe the proper spelling of Irish names.

1. Complain #

Best option: Send a public tweet to the offending company.

Alternatively, when you find an offending website, you can copy the text below and paste into their contact form as a starting point for your complaint.

Dear Manager,

When I first created an account with your concern I entered my surname, which, when correctly spelt, includes an apostrophe. My properly done application was rejected by your system since it contained my so called "foreign element." I thus was forced to mis-spell my own name to be accepted into your records.

I understand that malicious actors exist who exploit any security vulnerabilities that come with names having special characters in them. I further understand that with a bit of additional coding effort any possible security risks can be eliminated or greatly mitigated.

A substantial number of companies have figured out how to accept my apostrophe in their forms. Unfortunately, that turns out to present a further frustration: I have to remember or keep a record of which concerns do or don't spell my name correctly.

The purpose of this letter is to urge your developers to make any changes needed to accommodate me and hundreds of your other customers dealing with a similar frustration. I look forward to your reply and hopefully a resolution to this issue.

Sincerely,

2. Share Your Story #

Pop over to our facebook page and tell us about when the apostrophe in your name (or other reasons) caused a computer to not accept your actual name.
(Side note: I plan to move comments to this site as well soon)

3. Shop! #

Proudly wear our t-shirts that calls for keeping the Irish apostrophe around. Think of it as the “keep” in Keep the Faith.” That covers many meanings: maintain, preserve, sustain, observe, support, respect, guard, and cherish. It will benefit all of us.

Questions/Comments? Send us an email