Enda Kenny is a man, not a woman. The New York Times corrected its article. (Credit: Britanica.com)

The New York Times corrected its March 10 article after referring to Ireland’s new prime minister as a woman. However, as the Times corrected, “Prime Minister Enda Kenny is a man.”

The Times labeled the mistake “an editing error.”  The error is a big one, however, considering the article is about Kenny’s being sworn in as the prime minister.

The Irish Independent commented on the error, noting “there was plenty of good-natured guffawing — and red faces — in the U.S.” after the error.

“The Government said the ‘New York Times’ was not contacted by the Department of the Taoiseach seeking a clarification about Mr Kenny’s name — they ‘did it by themselves,'” according to the Independent.

But the Independent did cut the Times some slack:

“To be fair, the name ‘Enda’ according to the online baby name bibles, can be either a boy’s or a girl’s name, and is the anglicised version of Eanna, which, when translated, means ‘like a bird’.”

Also, as the Independent reported, the Times’ Sarah Lyall, who wrote the article, tweeted that she didn’t make the error.  She also reportedly commented that “I sent Mr Kenny to New York as a ‘Mr’; an editor there seems to have randomly and unilaterally assigned him a new gender. We’ve now fixed it. I really apologise.”

Hat Tip: Dave Weigel