IOR/R/15/6/126

The file contains papers of the Political Agency, Muscat, concerning the transliteration of personal and place names in India and the Persian Gulf. The papers were compiled in response to requests from the Government of India for standardisation in the translation of vernacular names.

The papers include: correspondence from the Under Secretary and the Secretary to the Government of India, drawing attention to the need for consistency in the spelling and arrangement of native Indian names in official lists, 1903-06; correspondence between the British Residency and Consulate-General, Bushire, and the Political Agent, Muscat, dated 1910-11, containing lists of transliterated names of persons, places, and tribes in Muscat, in accordance with a slightly modified Hunterian system of spelling and the system employed in Volume II of the Persian Gulf Gazetteer; papers concerning an extract from 'A System for the Spelling of Names of Places etc. in Persia, Afghanistan, and Arabia', 1924; copies of the First List of Names in Persia (South) and the Second List of Names in Persia (North), by the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use, with associated correspondence, 1928-29; correspondence concerning circulars issued by the Protocol Department of the Persian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, communicating changes to the names of certain towns in Persia [Iran], 1930-32; and correspondence concerning the new official names of the Kingdom and Ruler of Saudi Arabia, 1932.

There is no correspondence in the file dated 1917-23.

The other languages and scripts noted as being present in the file appear in lists of transliterated names.