# Spelling of the erstwhile Libyan Leaders name **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 26, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-of-the-erstwhile-libyan-leaders-name/594189 "2011-08-26T16:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-of-the-erstwhile-libyan-leaders-name/594189/1 "2011-08-26T16:01:09Z")
25 years ago Cecil attempted to explain one of the mysteries of our time; how to spell. [Gadhafi /Qaddafhi/ Khadaffis](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/513/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi) name. Now as his passport has been[discovered](http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mediamonkeyblog/2011/aug/25/gaddafi-spells-trouble-for-media), should’nt that controversy end? He spells it Gathafi ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-of-the-erstwhile-libyan-leaders-name/594189/2 "2011-08-26T16:02:11Z")
Ok, I managed to get the title screwed up. Please mods fix! ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-of-the-erstwhile-libyan-leaders-name/594189/3 "2011-08-27T02:52:14Z")
I don’t know that he was consistent in the transliteration. It was spelled “Khadafy” by the \*Chicago Tribune \*and other newspapers until 1986, when the Libyan leader wrote a letter to a third-grade class in suburban Chicago, and signed his name in Roman characters as “Moammar El-Gadhafi.” The story was covered in the _Tribune_ on May 22, 1986, and an accompanying sidebar explained that the the paper, now having evidence of the man’s own preference for transliteration, would begin using “Gadhafi.” ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-of-the-erstwhile-libyan-leaders-name/594189/4 "2011-09-02T00:47:16Z")
[quote=“AK84, post:1, topic:594189”] 25 years ago Cecil attempted to explain one of the mysteries of our time; how to spell. [Gadhafi /Qaddafhi/ Khadaffis](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/513/how-are-you-supposed-to-spell-muammar-gaddafi-khadafy-qadhafi) name. His name is now spelled “M–U–D”.