diff --git a/pykolab/plugins/recipientpolicy/__init__.py b/pykolab/plugins/recipientpolicy/__init__.py
--- a/pykolab/plugins/recipientpolicy/__init__.py
+++ b/pykolab/plugins/recipientpolicy/__init__.py
@@ -70,6 +70,11 @@
 
             user_attrs['preferredlanguage'] = default_locale
 
+        # strip whitespace from common attribs used to build the address
+        for attr in ['surname', 'sn', 'givenname']:
+            if attr in user_attrs:
+                user_attrs[attr] = user_attrs[attr].strip()
+
         try:
             mail = kw['primary_mail'] % user_attrs
             mail = utils.translate(mail, user_attrs['preferredlanguage'])
@@ -122,7 +127,7 @@
 
         for attr in [ 'givenname', 'sn', 'surname' ]:
             try:
-                user_attrs[attr] = utils.translate(user_attrs[attr], user_attrs['preferredlanguage'])
+                user_attrs[attr] = utils.translate(user_attrs[attr].strip(), user_attrs['preferredlanguage'])
             except Exception, errmsg:
                 log.error(_("An error occurred in composing the secondary mail attribute for entry %r") % (user_attrs['id']))
                 if conf.debuglevel > 8: