‘Morsi’, ‘Mursi’, ‘Morsy’

Saudi Gazette report

The tempestuous winds of the Arab Spring have blown some old regional leaders out of office and new ones into presidential palaces. Recent political events in Egypt have left many questions unanswered, and one of the most crucial for a newspaper editor is how the newly-installed Egyptian president spells his name in English.

In a spot check of 15 different international news organizations (see below), Saudi Gazette found common ( not unanimous) agreement on the spelling of the president’s first name. Eleven of the 15 spelled it “Mohamed”.

However, the spelling of the Egyptian head of state’s last name varied, with the three most common versions being: “Morsi”, “Mursi”, and “Morsy”. Of the 15 sampled news organizations, nine opted for “Morsi”; six for “Mursi”; and only one for “Morsy”.

Google results for the three different spellings were: “Morsi” 17,400,000; “Mursi” 11,700,000 and “Morsy” 1,340,000.

Turning to the website of the official Egypt State Information Service was, unfortunately, of little help as an article at the top of its Home page on Thursday referred to “President Mohamed Morsi”, while at the bottom of the same page a photo of the president was labeled “Dr. Mohammad Morsy President of Egypt”!

Clearly, there are far more pressing issues facing the new Egyptian head of state than to worry about how his name is spelled in English. And like Shakespeare’s rose, which by any other name would smell as sweet, we realize that it will not in the least affect his ability to deal with the daunting tasks confronting him. So until Saudi Gazette hears to the contrary, we will refer to him as President Mohamed Morsi and take this opportunity to wish him all the best.

                                 Selected News Organizations
             

1. Saudi Press Agency (SPA)                President Mohammed Morsi

2. Egypt State Information Service      President Mohamed Morsi

3. The Egyptian Gazette                       President Mohamed Mursi

4. Al-Masry Al-Youm                            President Mohamed Morsy

5. Al-Ahram Weekly                             President Mohamed Mursi

6. Egypt Daily News                             President Mohamed Morsi

7. Middle East News Agency                    President Mohamed Morsi

8. Wikipedia                                              President Mohamed Morsi

9. BBC                                                   President Mohammed Mursi

10. The Guardian                                 President Mohamed Morsi

11. The New York Times                      President Mohamed Morsi

12. The Associated Press                      President Mohammed Morsi

13. Al-Arabiya                                      President Mohammed Mursi

14. Reuters                                            President Mohamed Mursi

15.  AFP                                              President Mohamed Morsi