Furious mum slams school after they shorten daughter’s name because it’s ‘too hard to pronounce’

A mother has criticised her children’s school after discovering that they were calling her daughter a shortened version of her name because the full version was ‘too hard to pronounce’.

Mum Paris learned that her five-year-old daughter Mahinarangi Tautu, whose traditional Māori name means ‘moon in the sky’, was being called “Rangi” by staff at a day centre in New Zealand. She said that the experience had left Mahinarangi feeling “embarrassed” by her name.

Paris said that her daughter’s name from the Ngāti 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 and can have great significance in its meaning. But as well as having her name shortened by school staff, Mahinarangi has also been laughed at by other children because of her name, The Mirror reports .

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Her mum wrote in a Facebook post: "Can you imagine your child being too embarrassed to say their name because people won't make a decent effort to pronounce it properly?” She added that Mahinarangi had “lost the pride that comes with her beautiful name” and no longer corrects people who mispronounce it.

Paris added: "It made me so angry, especially because they'd use Māori resources in her classes." She told New Zealand Herald that she has been teaching Mahinarangi to break down her name into single syllables to help teach others to say it correctly.

Paris is now urging other parents to ensure that their children are aware of how important names can be when it comes to respecting other cultures . The mum is determined to make sure that others address her daughter by her full name because of her ancestors enduring a similar experience over theirs.

"My ancestors changed their original name from Perepe-Perana to Phillips because of colonisation,” Paris said. "I will not let something similar happen with my daughter."

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