Why the many variations of Moammar Gadhafi’s name? It stems from the fact his name as written in Arabic has no direct translation into the western, Roman alphabet.
The “Explainer” column of the Slate online magazine says it’s a prime example of the difficulty one encounters when trying to Romanize an Arabic name. In the 1980s, the Libyan strongman’s first name was rendered Moammar and Muammar, and his last name, Gadaffi, Gaddafi, Gathafi, Kadafi, Kaddafi, Khadafy, Qadhafi and Qathafi.
“The official Library of Congress transliteration would be ‘Qadhdhafi,’ but the library opted for ‘Quaddafi’ instead, because the “dhdh” looked so strange in English,” Slate’s Chris Suellentrop writes. “In 1986, most publications, including the AP, adopted ‘Gadhafi’ as the new standard. Why? The Libyan leader had sent letters to American schoolchildren and a minister. The typed name over his Arabic signature: Moammar El-Gadhafi.”
Garrett Quinn, who writes the “Less is More” blog for the Boston Globe, cites what he figures are the five most popular ways to spell the Libyan leader’s name:
- Moammar Gadhafi (Associated Press)
- Moammar Gaddafi (Washington Post)
- Muammar el-Qaddafi (New York Times)
- Moammar Khadafy ( Boston Globe
- Moamer Khadafi ( Agence France-Presse)
