How do you say Padraig?

When Padraig Harrington held aloft the Claret Jug at the Open on Sunday, sports fans around the world steeled themselves to enter the minefield of Irish pronunciation. Should his name be pronounced paw-drig, pahd-rag, paw-rick or paaah-ric?

All are in fact correct, depending on the district you happen to be in at the time. The name can be spelt Padhraic, Pádraig or Páraic. Until around 200 years ago, Irish society was so tribal and quarrelsome that only poets and seers dared step outside their locality. No one else got to hear how others pronounced things. Southerners were influenced by the Normans, and liked to chew over a word, spreading emphasis everywhere, but particularly on the first syllable - paahw-drig. Northerners swallowed their words, obliterating almost everything except a few consonants at the end - pa'ric.

Harrington's parents called him pawd-rig. By dropping the accent that ought to be on the first 'á', he has made things more complicated. In the same spirit, his ancestors at some point anglicised his surname from the original O hIongardail.

In general, the Irish are laid back about the pronunciation of their names. But it should be noted that some particularly dangerous areas of Irish-name confusion still exist. Take Caitlín (pronounced Cat-leen). It's short for Cáit, which is pronounced completely differently (Kaw-it). Donnacha, pronounced Done-u-kha, is best tried after a few beers. The only way an English speaker could tackle the name Bríd is by saying "breed" with a sheet of paper between the lips. Finally, great care should be taken with Mícheál (Me-hawll) - although it looks only a vowel away from Michael, its pronunciation is differentiated by 800 years of enslavement.

· Manchán Magan is pronounced Mon-a-khawn.

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