05 August 2009

What's the proper spelling of Ahmadinejad?

I have always written it as a single word, but today I encountered this headline at the Financial Times:

Ahmadi-Nejad sworn in as Iran’s president

Most sites I read present the name as a single unhyphenated word, but I respect the FT, and a Google search shows the hyphenated form at a variety of other (typically European) sites.

It doesn't really matter, except that it also implies something about the pronunciation. I've always spoken the name as Ahma-DEAN-ejad, but the hyphen, if correct, would imply that there should be at least a micropause between Ahmadi and Nejad rather than a "dean" in the middle.

If any readers of TYWKIWDBI have a working knowledge of Persian patronyms, I'd appreciate any info you can share.

This discussion of Ahmadiyya and the Ahmadis may or may not be relevant.

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