Germain Pirlot is a Belgian esperantist

Esperantist

An Esperantist is a person who speaks or uses Esperanto. Etymologically, an Esperantist is someone who hopes...

 and ex-teacher of French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, presently living in Ostend

Ostend

Ostend  is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....

. He is mostly known as the probable inventor of the name euro for the common currency

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

 of the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 (EU). On the contrary then German Federal Minister of Finance Theo Waigel is said to have come up with the name Euro and to have convinced his European colleagues use that name for the new currency.

On 4 August 1995, Pirlot sent a letter to then President of the European Commission

President of the European Commission

The President of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission ― the executive branch of the :European Union ― the most powerful officeholder in the EU. The President is responsible for allocating portfolios to members of the Commission and can reshuffle or dismiss them if needed...

, Jacques Santer, in which he suggested the name euro to be used for the planned currency of the EU. Later, Pirlot received an official letter thanking him for the suggestion.

The name euro was officially adopted by the European Council

European Council

The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...

 in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 (Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

) on 16 December 1995. Jean-Jacques Schul, chairman of Promeuro (Association for the promotion of the euro), claims that to his knowledge nobody else had suggested to use this name for the currency before 4 August 1995.

Another suggestion made by Pirlot in the same letter, to name the hundredth of the currency "ropas", has not been realized – instead, the name "cent" has been adopted.

Sources