diff --git a/doc/texi2pod.pl b/doc/texi2pod.pl
index f972671937..b825fdc242 100644
--- a/doc/texi2pod.pl
+++ b/doc/texi2pod.pl
@@ -327,10 +327,11 @@ die "No filename or title\n" unless defined $fn && defined $tl;
 $chapters{NAME} = "$fn \- $tl\n";
 $chapters{FOOTNOTES} .= "=back\n" if exists $chapters{FOOTNOTES};
 
+# always use utf8
+print "=encoding utf8\n\n";
+
 unshift @chapters_sequence, "NAME";
 for $chapter (@chapters_sequence) {
-    # always use utf8
-    print "=encoding utf8\n";
     if (exists $chapters{$chapter}) {
         $head = uc($chapter);
         print "=head1 $head\n\n";