If you hear a foreign name of a child being mispronounced, would you tell it to the parent or just shut up?

This woman was talking to another mother who named her child an Irish name.

However, she was pronouncing it differently than how the Irish would say it.

So, she made a comment about it, though she tried to be tactful and nice.

Still, the mother got mad and said she ruined the girl’s life and self-esteem.

Read the full details below.

AITA For Ruining A Child’s Life?

Today, I started talking to an American mother while in A&E.

Her child was interested in the artwork I have on my leather jacket as it’s pretty colourful.

The mother mentioned that her daughters name was “Grain.”

So I assumed for a while that she was that mother who wanted something “special” to call her child.

This woman admired the child’s unique name.

I remarked that it was a unique name, and that I’d never met anyone called Grain before.

She told me that she’s named after her great-grandmother, and that it’s an Irish name.

At this point, the alarm bells are ringing in my head because I’ve realised that the kid is called Gráinne (generally pronounced as Gro-nyuh, or thereabouts.)

She tried to be nice and mindful about her responses.

I tried to be very tactful, and I was like, “Irish has such an interesting alphabet. How is her name spelled? Irish names can be tricky.”

The kid is called Gráinne. Not Grain.

My partner has studied Ireland’s political history as part of their dissertation, the Irish diaspora, and it’s culture around their university city.

He is stuck somewhere between stifling a laugh and dying of embarrassment on her behalf.

She wanted to express her point in a kind way.

So, I come up with, what I thought was a very positive reply.

I said, “An old-school name and a more modern pronunciation. I think that’s a great way to pick names.”

I would like to point out that I do not like the name Grain for a child, nor do I like the way the pronunciation was butchered.

But I was trying to be tactful and positive.

The mother did not appreciate correcting her in front of the child.

She asked what I meant, and I said, “Well, in Ireland, they typically pronounce it like “gro-nyuh.”

Her face went red, and said that I shouldn’t have said that the pronunciation was wrong in front of the kid.

Because now she’s going to grow up knowing that her name is wrong and feel bad about it.

She apologized and tried explaining it more, but the mother was irritated.

I apologised for causing offence, and restated that it’s a lovely name in both ways, and a fantastic nod to her heritage.

I said that I’m sure her great-grandmother would be thrilled to be honoured by her name being used.

I was throwing out just about every positive reinforcement that I could think of, but, to be frank, she was really annoyed.

The mother gave a different meaning to everything she said.

She told me that I “ruined her daughter’s self-esteem,” and that her “life [was] ruined” by me saying that “her existence is wrong.”

I didn’t say that, by the way.

I said that her name was pronounced atypically.

Now, she’s wondering if she was the jerk.

Gráinne, for context, was around 2 years old and completely unbothered by the conversation until her mother got angry at me.

She was just looking at the pictures on my jacket.

The conversation was maybe five minutes long, but I managed to ruin this kid’s life.

Hindsight says I should have kept my mouth shut and waited for somebody else in this city to say something.

So, AITA?

Let’s find out what other people have to say about this.

This user shares their honest thought.

What are you trying to achieve, asks this one.

This is true!

This user expresses her own POV.

Finally, here’s a valid point from this user.

Interesting facts, but they really can’t do anything about it, can they?

This strikes me as equal parts hilarious and embarrassing.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.