# How are you supposed to spell Muammar Gaddafi/Khadafy/Qadhafi? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 25, 2005, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi/300998 "2005-04-25T09:07:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solomani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@solomani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solomani)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi/300998/1 "2005-04-25T09:07:37Z")
One minor point on this article [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_264b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_264b.html) Cecil comments “(1) there is no generally accepted authority for romanizing Arabic names”. I don’t doubt this is true but there is an entire language based around this idea - Maltese. It is the only Arabic based language written with the English (or Roman) alphabet. So you could use that as a standard for most other Arabic based languages. Since I speak Maltese I can personally testify that you will get weird spelling for many words but at least it would be consistent. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi/300998/2 "2005-04-25T21:35:19Z")
I did not know this. In fact, I found the topic fascinating enough that I decided to read up on it on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_language). Interesting stuff! ---
**Author:** ![solomani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@solomani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solomani)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi/300998/3 "2005-04-26T00:07:13Z")
I am glad I was able to add to the knowledge pool 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi/300998/4 "2005-04-26T04:15:36Z")
And … so … how do they spell whatisname? ---
**Author:** ![solomani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@solomani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solomani)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi/300998/5 "2005-04-26T14:15:06Z")
I can speak/comprehend Maltese fairly fluently but thats about it. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi/300998/6 "2005-04-26T15:56:10Z")
I’ve alwas read it as Moammar Qaddafi. Or you can spell it “Mad Dog”. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi/300998/7 "2005-04-27T19:36:16Z")
Tim Kaserinsky (sp?) did a “newscast” about this on an early-80s episode of SNL. Fairly funny; eventually they just began scrolling every single word that began with a K or a Q. Sir Rhosis