What’s in a name?

Hollywood actor, Martin Sheen – he of West Wing fame – was interviewed by Pat Kenny on last night’s Late, Late Show. Sheen spoke on two issues which I would have loved to have heard more about but, unfortunately, Kenny did not develop the themes.

Firstly, Sheen spoke of his faith and his activism. Having had a near-death experience while filming Apocalypse Now, Sheen had returned to Catholicism. He spoke briefly about Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker movement and how it had affected his social conscience and Sheen related her work to the Irish experience at Shannon and the Iraqi war.

Kenny was not interested in following up which was a pity. Those issues of faith, witness and activism are still very much alive in Ireland and one would have thought that it would have appealed to Kenny’s audience. Indeed, the mass demonstrations against the invasion of Iraq – and the total disregard of that sentiment by both the US and British governments – have posed fundamental questions (again) about the nature of Western democracy.

The other issue Sheen raised was his name. Martin Sheen is, in fact, his stage name. His real name on all official documents, he said, was Ramon Estevez. He adopted an anglicised name when he began his acting career because of hostility towards Hispanics. It was, Sheen said, something he regarded and something and a decision that disappointed his father.

Again that issue of language, heritage and identity – both familial and national – are matters that are still being thrashed out in Ireland. It would have been fascinating to see an actor of Sheen’s stature talk about that. The language debate in Ireland is often presented as a simple issue of Irish v English. It would have been refreshing to remind people that issues of language are also international and that they still resonate with people across the globe.