It's important to get those FIFA names right

by: Garry Pierrepont (4 June 2015)

With many FIFA officials being indicted on various charges relating to corruption within the organisation, I noted that many of the names were unusual for English-writing people to write. It made me think of the importance of copying the names correctly.

With the likes of Eugenio Figueredo, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, Nicolas Leoz, Alejandro Burzaco among the names involved, it is easy to see that copying may bring errors.

Indeed, I experience it a lot with my own name – Garry Pierrepont. With two ‘r’s in Garry and a French surname, I receive many letters addressed to many variants.

The trouble is that people make assumptions, and read a name and then write it down rather more phonetically than accurately. Even John Smith might be Jon Smyth.

Make sure you copy a name letter for letter – it’s important to the recipient; it would be important to you. And we’d hate the wrong person at FIFA to be indicted, wouldn’t we?

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