With news reports filled with the rumblings of war in Iraq, Saddam Hussein's name is certainly dominating the headlines of late. But a question nagging at many of those headline writers is: which name should they use when referring to the Iraqi leader?

News outlets across Canada appear to be divided on how to properly address the Arab leader, with some calling him Hussein, and others simply using Saddam.

The general rule for journalists is to shorten a subject's name to simply his last name on second reference. But in the case of the leader of Iraq, neither Saddam nor Hussein is technically a surname.

Journalists have worried that choosing to address the leader by his first name is somehow rude and smacks of the dismissive tone that President George Bush (and his father before him) has often been accused of using.

The country's main news wire service, the Canadian Press, along with its sister organization in the U.S., the Associated Press, have decided to go with "Saddam." The National Post and Toronto Star newspapers follow a similar pattern. CTV, meanwhile, has chosen to use "Hussein," while The Globe and Mail uses the more formal "Mr. Hussein." CBC seems to work around the problem by referring to him only as "Saddam Hussein" in their broadcasts.

Associated Press explains its position of using the Iraqi leader's first name this way:

"He is not usually referred to as 'Hussein' by people in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East. Political leaders and Iraqi citizens call him simply Saddam or by both names -- Saddam Hussein. Both Arabic- and English-language newspapers follow the same practice, and some that use both names in copy reduce it to Saddam in headlines.''

John Miller, who teaches "Covering Diversity" at the School of Journalism at Ryerson University says this issue could be simple: if most world leaders are referred to by their second name, then the leader of Iraq should be treated the same.

But CTV's Ellen Pinchuk, who is reporting from Baghdad, says the people of Iraq don't address their leader by name at all. Pinchuk says the Iraqis she's spoken to say they categorically do not refer to their president as "Saddam." When speaking of him in the press, they prefer to call him "Mr. President Saddam Hussein" on first reference, and then simply, "Mr. President," or "His Excellency."

"Many are not comfortable pronouncing his actual name in public within hearing distance of anyone," Pinchuk says.

The issue is complicated by the Arabic system of family names. The Associated Press recently explained its decision to refer to the Iraqi leader as "Saddam" this way:

"Hussein is not his family name. Saddam is his given name, and Hussein is his father's given name; this is common practice in Arab families. His full name is Saddam Hussein al-Majd al-Tikriti, but he uses neither al-Majd, which is akin to a family name, nor al-Tikriti, which is a name for his extended family, or clan, derived from the Tikrit region where the president is from."

Tim Harrison, a professor of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto explains that Arabic names are structured so that their full names offer a sort of genealogy of the family. So, Hussein is not the president's last name; it is the name of his father, Hussein Abdul al Majid al Tikriti. The Iraqi leader's son is likewise named after him: Odai Saddam Hussein.

Strictly speaking, Hussein's family name is "al Majid." But this full name is never used in Iraq, except in very formal contexts, "perhaps to position him in the broader tribal confederation that he's from," Harrison explained to CTV News Online.

Paul Loong, world editor for Canadian Press, says his news organization has been using "Saddam" since at least the Iran-Iraq war in 1980. So in the interest of remaining consistent, the wire service that provides stories daily to more than 85 newspapers across Canada has not deviated from that policy.

"I don't think any decision was made recently. We've used 'Saddam' for as long as I can remember and so it would be the same policy for 20 years or longer," Loong told CTV News Online.

While Loong refers to AP's reasoning when explaining CP's position, he says CP does not have to follow AP rules and often doesn't.

"But in this case, for the longest time, we have used Saddam. So I don't see any kind of need to change it at this point," Loong says.

Still, there are many who remain uncomfortable with addressing the Iraqi leader by his first name, worrying that it's insulting or uncivil. Professor Harrison points out that when Iraqis call their leader Saddam, it's certainly not meant to be irreverent; indeed, it's respectful.

"It's out of a sort of sense of familiarity. But that's the image (Hussein) chooses to convey: He is the protector of the people, he's the father of the nation. So when his first name is used, it suggests that level of intimacy or familiarity," Miller explains.

But he is quick to point out: "None of these people would ever call him that to his face."

At the same time, Harrison wonders though whether it's appropriate for foreigners to use the name Saddam as an Iraqi would.

"For the international media to call him Saddam is not necessarily respectful, since they are not necessarily part of the community. So I would say that probably Iraqis wouldn't see a foreigner using his first name as understanding it the way an Iraqi would."

Harrison finds U.S. President Bush's use of the name Saddam particularly inappropriate.

"Frankly, the way that a lot western politicians pronounce the name, SOD-dum, when it should be pronounced Sa-DAMM, well, that suggests a rather negative connotation -- and I think it's perhaps not entirely coincidental," Miller says.

CTV's Pinchuk says in Iraq if the President's name is used in print, a phrase is always written after his name in parentheses: "(May God help him)". A similar phrase of reverence is written after all references to the name of Muhammad: "Salla-llahu alaihi wa sallam", which means in English "Peace and blessings of Allah upon him."

The phrase "May God help him" is seen so frequently after Saddam Hussein's name, Pinchuk says, it is sometimes joked that is in fact the president's real last name.

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