Arabic names were historically based on a long naming system; most Arabs did not simply have given/middle/family names, but a full chain of names. This system was mainly in use throughout Arabia and part of the Levant.
Structure of the Arabic name
Ism
The ism (اسم) is the personal name (e.g. "Kareem" or "Fatimah"). Most names are Arabic words with a meaning, usually signaling the hoped-for character of the person. Such words are employed as adjectives and nouns in regular language.
- Karīm means "generous"
- Maħmūd means "praiseworthy"
Generally, the context and grammar differentiate between names and adjectives, but Arab newspapers sometimes try to avoid confusion by placing names in brackets or quotation marks.
A very common name is Muhammad, used throughout the Muslim world, including parts of Africa, Arabia, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia. The name may be abbreviated to Md., Mohd., Muhd., or simply M. in many cases, in which case the second given name is the one most commonly used. This can be seen in many names in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
- Md. Dinar ibn Raihan
- Mohd. Umair Tanvir
- Md. Osman
Muslim practices
A common form of Muslim Arab names is the combination of ʿAbd ("servant", fem. ʿAmah) followed by an description of God. A particularly common masculine example is Abdullah (عبد الله "servant of God"); the feminine counterpart being Amatullah.
This practice creates a possibility of 99 names for each sex, as there are 99 exclusive adjectives for God in Islam.
In deference to God, Ê¿Abd is usually not used in conjunction with prophets' names. Nonetheless such names are accepted in some areas.
This practice is not exclusive to Muslims in the Arab world. For example, in Lebanon and Egypt, Abdel-Massih ("servant of Christ") is commonly used as a Christian last name.
Arab Christian practices
To an extent, most Christian Arabs have names indistinguishable from Muslims, except that they do not often use explicitly Islamic names, i.e., Muhammad. Some common Christian names are:
- Arabic versions of Christian names (e.g. saints' names: Botros for Peter, although not a translation).
- Names of Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian / Aramaic origin.
- Use of European names, especially French, Greek and, to a lesser extent, Spanish ones (in Morocco). This has been a centuries-long convention for Christian Arabs, especially in the Levant. For example: George Habash, Charles Helou, Camille Chamoun.
- Names in honor of Jesus Christ:
- Abd al-Yasuʿ (masc. ) / Amat al-Yasuʿ (fem.) ("slave of Jesus")
- Abd al-Maseeḥ (masc.) / Amat al-Maseeḥ (fem.) ("slave of the Messiah")
- Derivations of Maseeḥ ("Christ"): Masūḥun ("most anointed"), AmsÄḥ ("more anointed"), Mamsūḥ ("anointed") and Musayḥ ("infant Christ"). The root, M-S-Ḥ, literally means "to anoint" (as in Masah) and is cognate to the Hebrew Mashiah.
- Abd al-Ilaah ("worshiper of God") is a Christian equivalent to the common Muslim name Abdullah.
Laqab
The laqab (لقب  "cognomen" / "surname") is intended as a description of the person.
- For example, the Abbasid Caliph Haroun al-Rasheed (of One Thousand and One Nights fame). Haroun is the Arabic form for Aaron and al-Rasheed means "the rightly-guided".
The laqab was very popular in ancient Arab societies. Today, the laqab is only used if it is actually a person's birth surname/family name.
Nasab
The nasab (نسب) is a patronymic or series of patronymics. It indicates the person's heritage by the word ibn (ابن "son", colloquially bin) or bint (بنت "daughter", also binte, abbreviated bte.).
- Ibn Khaldun (ابن خلدون) means "son of Khaldun". Khaldun is the father's personal name or, in this particular case, the name of a remote ancestor.
Several nasab can follow in a chain to trace a person's ancestry backwards in time, as was important in the tribally based society of the ancient Arabs, both for purposes of identification and for socio-political interactions. Today, however, ibn or bint is no longer used (unless it is the official naming style in a country, region, etc.: Adnen bin Abdallah). The plural is 'AbnÄ for males and BanÄt for females. However, Banu or Bani is tribal and encompasses both sexes.
Nisbah
The nisbah (نسبة) surname could be an everyday name, but is mostly the name of the ancestral tribe, city, country, or any other term used to show relevance. It follows a family through several generations.
The laqab and nisbah are similar in use, thus, a name rarely contains both.
Example name
Ù…Øمد بن سعيد بن عبد العزيز الÙلسطيني
Muhammad ibn Saeed ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Filasteeni
muḥammad ibn saʻīdi ibn Ê»abdi l-Ê»azÄ«zi l-filasá¹Ä«nÄ«
- Ism - Muhammad (proper name, lit. "praised")
- Nasab - Saeed (father's name, lit. "happy")
- Nasab - Abd al-Aziz (grandfather's name, "servant of the Almighty or the Honourable")
- Nisbah - al-Filasteeni ("the Palestinian", from Filasteen "Palestine").
"Muhammad, son of Saeed, son of Abdul-Aziz, the Palestinian"
This person would simply be referred to as "Muhammad" or by relating him to his first-born son, e.g. Abu Kareem ("father of Kareem"). To signify respect or to specify which Muhammad one is speaking about, the name could be lengthened to the extent necessary or desired.
Westernization of Arabic naming practices and names
Almost all Arabic-speaking countries (excluding for example Saudi Arabia or Bahrain) have now adopted a Westernized way of naming. This is the case for example in the Levant and Maghreb, as well as some North African countries, where French or English conventions are followed (an effect of European colonization), and it is rapidly gaining ground elsewhere.
Also, many Arabs adapt to Western conventions for practical purposes when travelling or when residing in Western countries, constructing a given name/family name model out of their full Arab name, to fit Western expectations and/or visa applications or other official forms and documents. The reverse side to this is the when Westerners are asked to supply their first name, father's name, and family name in some Arab visa applications.
The Westernization of an Arab name may require transliteration. Often, one name may be transliterated in several ways (Abdul Rahman, Abdoul Rahman, Abdur Rahman, Abdurahman, Abd al-Rahman, or Abd ar-Rahman), as there is no single accepted Arabic transliteration system. A single individual may try several ways of transliterating his or her name, producing even greater inconsistency. This has resulted in confusion on the part of governments, security agencies, airlines and others: for example, especially since 9/11, persons with names written similarly to those of suspected terrorists have been detained.
Common mistakes
Non-Arabic speakers often make these mistakes:
- Separating "the X of Y" word combinations (see idafa):
- With "Abdul": Arabic names may be written "Abdul (something)", but "Abdul" means "servant of the" and is not, by itself, a name. Thus for example, to address Abdul Rahman bin Omar al-Ahmad by his given name, one says "Abdul Rahman", not merely "Abdul". If he introduces himself as "Abdul Rahman" (which means "the servant of the Merciful"), one does not say "Mr. Rahman" (as "Rahman" is not a family name but part of his (theophoric) personal name); instead it would be Mr. Ahmad, the latter being the family name.
- People not familiar with Arabic sandhi in genitive constructions: HabÄ«bu-llÄh = "beloved (HabÄ«b) of (ul) God (AllÄh)"; here a person may in error report the man's name as "forename Habib, surname Ullah". Likewise, people may confuse a name such as JalÄlu-d-dÄ«n ("The majesty of the religion") as being "Jalal Uddin", or "Mr. Uddin", when "Uddin" is not a surname, but the second half of a two-word name (the desinence -u of the construct state nominative, plus the article, appearing as -d-, plus the genitive dÄ«n[i]). To add to the confusion, some immigrants to Western countries have adopted Uddin as a surname, although it is grammatically incorrect in Arabic outside the context of the associated "first name". Even Indian Muslims commit the same error. If a person's name is Abd-ul-Rahim ("servant of the Merciful"), others may call him Mr. Abdul ("servant of the") which would sound quite odd to a native speaker of Arabic.
- Not distinguishing `alÄ' from Allah: Some Muslim names include the Arabic word `alÄ' (علاء "nobility"). Here, ` represents the ayin sound, the voiced pharyngeal fricative, and the apostrophe (') represents the hamza (glottal stop), and L is spelled and pronounced once. In AllÄh, L is spelled twice and pronounced separately (geminate). In Arabic pronunciation, `alÄ and AllÄh are clearly different. But Europeans, Iranians, and Indians may not pronounce some Arabic sounds as a native Arabic speaker would, and thus tend to pronounce them identically. For example, the name `AlÄ'-ad-dÄ«n ("the nobility of the religion", also known as Aladdin) is sometimes misspelled as Allah-ad-din. There is a separate name `Ala'-Allah (Aliullah, "the nobility of God").
- Taking bin or ibn for a middle name: As stated above, these words indicate the family chain. Westerns often confuse them for middle names, especially when they're written as "Ben", as it is the case in some countries. For example, Sami Ben Ahmed would be mistakenly addressed as Mr. Ahmed. To correctly address the person, one should use Mr. Ben Ahmed.
- Grammar: As between all languages, there are differences between Arabic grammar and the grammar of other languages. Arabic forms noun compounds in the opposite order from Indo-Iranian languages, for example. During the war in Afghanistan in 2002, a BBC team found in Kabul an internal refugee whose name they stated as "Allah Muhammad". This may be a misspelling, for if not, by the rules of Arabic grammar, this name means "the Allah who belongs to Muhammad", which would be unacceptable religiously. However, by the rules of Iranian and most Indian languages, this name does mean "Muhammad who belongs to Allah", being the equivalent of the Arabic "Muhammad Ullah". Most Afghans speak Iranian languages. Such Arabo-Iranian or Arabo-Indian mixed-language compound names are not uncommon in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Tajikistan. There is, for example, the Pakistani/Indian name Allah-Ditta which joins the Arabic Allah with the Persian/Urdu Ditta ("given").
Arab family naming convention
In Arabic culture, as in many parts of the world, a person's ancestry and family name are very important. An example is explained below.
Assume a man is called Saleh ibn Tariq ibn Khalid al-Fulan.
- Saleh is his personal name, and the one that his family and friends would call him by.
- ibn translates as "son of", so Tariq is Saleh's father's name.
- ibn Khalid means that Tariq is the son of Khalid, making Khalid the grandfather of Saleh.
- al-Fulan would be Saleh's family name.
Hence, Saleh ibn Tariq ibn Khalid al-Fulan translates as "Saleh, son of Tariq, son of Khaled; of the family al-Fulan."
The Arabic for "daughter of" is bint. A woman with the name Fatimah bint Tariq bin Khalid al-Fulan translates as "Fatimah, daughter of Tariq, son of Khaled; of the family al-Fulan."
In this case, ibn and bint are included in the official naming. Most Arab countries today, however, do not use 'ibn' and 'bint' in their naming system. If Saleh were an Egyptian, he would be called Saleh Tariq Khalid al-Fulan and Fatimah would be Fatimah Tariq Khalid al-Fulan.
If Saleh marries a wife (who would keep her own maiden, family, and surnames), their children will take Saleh's family name. Therefore, their son Mohammed would be called Mohammed ibn Saleh ibn Tariq al-Fulan.
However, not all Arab countries use the name in its full length, but conventionally use two- and three-word names, and sometimes four-word names in official or legal matters. Thus the first name is the personal name, the middle name is the father's name and the last name is the family name.
Arabic names and their biblical equivalent
The Arabic names listed below are used in the Arab world, as well as some other Muslim regions, with correspondent Hebrew, English, Syriac and Greek equivalents in many cases. They are not necessarily of Arabic origin, although some are. Most are derived from Syriac transliterations of the Hebrew Bible. For more information, see also Iranian, Malay, Pakistani, and Turkish names.
- The popular romanization of the Arabized and Hebrew names are written first, then the standardized romanization are written in oblique. Notice that Arabized names may have variants.
- If a literal Arabic translation of a name exists, it will be placed after the final standardized romanization.
- If an Arabic correlation is ambiguous, (?) will be placed following the name in question.
- * Yassou' is the Arab Christian name, while `ĪsÄ is the Muslim version of the name, as used in the Qur'an. There is debate as to which is the better rendition of the Aramaic Yeshua, because both names are of late origin.
- ** Youhanna is the Arab Christian name of John, while Yahya is the Muslim version of the name, as used in the Qur'an. They have completely different triconsonantal roots: H-N-N ("grace") vs H-Y-Y ("Life"). Specifically, Youhanna may be the Biblical John the Baptist or the apostle. Yahya refers specifically to John the Baptist.
- El, the Hebrew word for strength/might or deity, is usually represented as Ä«l in Arabic, although it carries no meaning in classical and modern Arabic. The only exception is its usage in the archaic Iraqi dialect.
Indexing
According to the Chicago Manual of Style, Arabic names are indexed by their surnames. Names may be alphabetized under Abu Abd and ibn, while names are not alphabetized under al- and el- and are instead alphabetized under the following element.
See also
- List of Arabic star names
- List of Arabic place names
- Persian name
- Pakistani name
- Turkish name
References
- ^ Metcalf, Barbara D. (2009-09-08). Islam in South Asia in Practice. Princeton University Press. p. 344. ISBN 1-4008-3138-5.
One must avoid names whose ambiguity suggests something unlawful. It is for this reason that the scholars forbid having names like 'Abd al-Nabi (Slave of the Prophet).
 - ^ "Indexes: A Chapter from The Chicago Manual of Style" (Archive). Chicago Manual of Style. Retrieved on December 23, 2014. p. 25 (PDF document p. 27/56).
External links
- Arabic names
- Arabic baby boy and girl names
- Arabic Nomenclature: A summary guide for beginners. A.F.L. Beeston (Oxford, 1971).
- Period Arabic Names and Naming Practices (2003) by Da'ud ibn Auda (David B. Appleton)
- Automated recognition of Arabic person names