A FAMILY has been told it cannot register a baby girl's name in Gaelic because it is classed as a foreign language.
The Boyles of Erbusaig, near Kyle of Lochalsh, were told by the General Register Office for Scotland that Aoife NicBhaoile would have to be converted to English before it could be accepted.
Managers at the office also would not accept the Gaelic spelling of the Boyles street An T-Straid, although it is registered with the local authority.
Tarbert-born Austin Boyle, 39, Aoife's father, said last night he would be prepared to take the punishment any court would give him for refusing to register the child until the rules are changed.
The Scottish Executive has agreed to reconsider his request, but said that if a name is translatable to English, it should be.
Jack McConnell, the first minister had promised a new executive would promote Gaelic and promised that it would be given legal protection.
Mr Boyle said last night: ''I couldn't believe hearing that and at the same time being told by the register office that Gaelic was a foreign language.
''I was told that if I wanted to register in Gaelic it would be like registering it in Sanskrit.
''The whole thing is ludicrous and does not make any sense at all. I will not register any other name even though it would mean I was prosecuted.
''I have had a lot of support from Gaelic organisations that I have been in contact with and they are writing letters to the executive on my behalf.''
He pointed out that anglicising Aoife's name would be impossible as there is no English version of the first name although the surname translates to MacBoyle.
Mr Boyle, a property developer, moved back to his home area with wife Eleni, 37, after living for more than 20 years in the West Country.
The girl has already had to endure one battle, to stay alive after being born seven weeks prematurely. Aoife spent three weeks in an incubator in intensive care at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness after weighing in at just four-and-a-half pounds when she was born on May 1, before finally being allowed home.
Census figures this year showed that the number of fluent Gaelic speakers fell to 58,552, the lowest ever. However supporters said the decline is slowing and that 65,674 people now claim to be able to speak, read or write Gaelic.
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