The same name can be written in English in several ways: Mohammad, Mohammed or Muhammad; Hossein, Hussein or Hosein. None of these is wrong in itself, but when one person’s documents use different spellings, it can lead to confusion and extra questions.
Why names vary
Persian and Kurdish names are written in their own scripts, and there is no single agreed way of writing them in English letters. Persian script usually leaves out short vowels, so whoever writes a name in English has to supply them. Over the years, different offices, countries and translators have made different choices, and those choices end up in passports, certificates and letters.
Follow the passport
For a certified translation, I follow the spelling in your passport. If there is no passport to go by, I follow your earlier documents or translations. Whatever the reference, I apply it consistently: the same spelling of every name, on every page, in every document I translate for you.
Send a list of spellings
- Your full name, exactly as it appears in your passport
- Your parents’, spouse’s and children’s names, if the documents mention them
- Your place of birth and any other towns mentioned
- Any spellings already used on UK forms or in earlier translations
Places matter as much as names. Mazar-e Sharif can also appear as Mazar-i-Sharif, and Sulaymaniyah as Slemani. Tell me which form you have used before, and I will keep to it.