The Arabic Naming System

Features The Arabic Naming System Beth Notzon and Gayle Nesom Mustapha—but this practice is declining, example, Umm or Oum Kulthum means especially in areas influenced by Western “mother of Kulthum”, and Abu Kulthum Editor’s note: As authorship in science becomes practices, such as Lebanon, Morocco, and means “father of Kulthum”. If the first increasingly international, science editors are other North African countries. child is a daughter, the kunya would prob- increasingly working with names of diverse Female isms include Leila, Ayisha, ably be changed later to acknowledge a son linguistic origins. Earlier issues of Science Salma, Nawal, and Samira. The “ah” sound born after the daughter. The kunya is such Editor contained articles on Chinese names is typically a feminine ending. It is consid- an important name that even a childless (2002;25:3-4) and Spanish and Portuguese ered somewhat inappropriate to address a person may be granted a kunya that makes names (2003;26:118-21). We are pleased woman by her ism, but this would be more him or her symbolically the parent of some to include in this issue an article on Arabic the case in tribal areas than in urban areas quality, such as “father of good deeds”, or names. We also hope to publish articles on Most Arabic isms mean something; Abu el Jamail. In countries such as Iraq, the names of additional origins. Readers wishing for example, Abdullah means “servant of “father/mother of” denotation is generally to prepare such articles are invited to contact God”, and Noor means “light”. Examples left out. Barbara Gastel, editor, Science Editor, at in English would be Felicity and Hope. In The nasab is the patronymic and starts [email protected]. many areas, because of their predominant- with bin or ibn, which means “son of”, ly nomadic existence, Arabs had to be able or bint, which means “daughter of”. It The Arabic naming system does not con- to convey their culture from place to place acknowledges the father of the child. form to the English system, with its first easily. Therefore, poetry became a supreme Matronymics are not used in Arabic. The name, middle name, and family name. The art form in Arabic culture. Even today, nasab often follows the ism, so that you Arabic system has a regularity of its own, names are inspired by the Arabic love of have, for example, Fahad ibn Abdul Aziz, although it may have variations related to poetry. Thus, in naming a child, parents which means “Fahad, son of Abdul Aziz”. country of origin, religion, culture (rural or may consider not just the meaning and A daughter would be Maryam bint Abdul tribal vs city), level of formality, and even significance of a name but also the sound Aziz. If someone wishes to acknowledge personal preference. In general, however, of the name when spoken. the grandfather and great-grandfather as traditional Arabic names consist of these The names of Christian Arabs can be well, these names may be added. So one five parts, which follow no particular order: derived from the Bible. One example is could have Khalid ibn Faisal ibn Abdul Aziz. the ism, kunya, nasab, laqab, and nisba. Butros, which is the Arabic version of It is rare for more than three nasabs to be More accurately, Arabic people can go by Peter. These names follow the same general included in the name. The use of bin and one to five, or even more, names. pattern as other Arabic names. Relatively ibn varies greatly. For example, in Iraq and Strictly speaking, the ism is the given recent—and surprising—additions to the some other countries, the nasab is simply name. These are the names given to chil- list of isms are Western names, which again omitted: Saddam Hussein means “Saddam, dren at birth. Male isms are such names as are sometimes used by Christian Arabs or son of Hussein”. Strictly speaking, Hussein Abdullah, Abdul Aziz, Abdul Rahman, Adel, by people living in areas influenced by is not Saddam’s surname, although it is Hussein, Sa’ud, and Omar. Men’s isms are the West. In Beirut, Amman, or Tunis, used as such in English. sometimes preceded by one of the attributes for example, you might come upon such The laqab is defined most simply as an of Allah—such as Ahmed, Mahmoud, and names as Emile Safwad Youssef and Chantal epithet, usually a religious or descriptive Sameh Issa. Needless to say, there are hun- one. For example, al-Rashid means “the BETH NOTZON is a scientific publications dreds of isms; those here are just a sample. rightly guided” and al-Fadl means “the manager at The University of Texas M D The kunya is an honorific name. It is not prominent”. In general, the laqab also Anderson Cancer Center. She lived for 2 years part of a person’s formal name and would follows the ism. For example, one might in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she served as seldom be found in print. The kunya is have Khalid al-Rashid ibn Abdul Aziz, which the senior editor for the Annals of Saudi used as an informal form of address and would be translated “Khalid, the rightly Medicine. GAYLE NESOM is a science editor respect, much as we use “aunt” and “uncle”. guided son of Abdul Aziz”. A laqab that at The University of Texas M D Anderson It indicates that the man or woman is the has its own prefix is Abd; it means “servant Cancer Center. During her previous life as a father or mother of a particular person, the of” and is followed by one of the 99 names, teacher of English as a second language, she birth of a child being considered praise- or attributes, of Allah. Abdul, which is lived in Tabriz, Iran, and Kuwait City. worthy and deserving of recognition. For derived from Abd, is not an ism and is not 20 • Science Editor • January – February 2005 • Vol 28 • No 1 Features Arabic Names continued used alone. Like Abd, it always precedes from the Arabic. Thus, you can get Mecca, As naming practices differ among Arab one of the 99 names of Allah; examples are Makkah, and Mekkah, all referring to cultures, so are there many exceptions to Abdul Rahman or Abdul Qader. The femi- Islam’s holiest site. Another example is the naming practices within cultures. In the nine form of this laqab is Amat. many spellings of Mohammed: Mohammad, space allowed here, it is difficult to achieve The nisba is similar to what people in Mohamad, Mahmad, Muhammad, Mohamed, a balance between oversimplification and the West call the surname. (Again, the Mahmed, and Muhammed. As T E Lawrence a thorough description of Arabic naming use of this term varies greatly: in Egypt noted to his publisher, “Arabic names practices. Suffice it to say that you should and Lebanon, for example, nisba is not won’t go into English, exactly, for their not be at all surprised to come across used at all; instead, laqab incorporates its consonants are not the same as ours, and Arabic names that do not conform strictly meaning.) The nisba is often used as the their words, like ours, vary from district to the system outlined here. last name, although its use has decreased to district.” The same goes for vowels and in some areas. It usually stands for an occu- the special characters used in transliterated Acknowledgment pation, a geographic location, or a tribe or names. Editors should therefore encourage We are grateful to Robert Meehan and family. Names that indicate a profession Arabic authors to make sure that their Emile Youssef for their advice and critical include al-Uqlidsi, “the studier of Euclid”, names are spelled consistently in all docu- review of the article. and al-Attar, “the spice vendor”. Examples ments to ensure that literature searches of names that indicate the geographic ori- bring up all their publications. gins of a family are al-Baghdadi, “the (peo- Arabs who live in the West are accus- Bibliography ple of) Baghdad”, al-Madini, “of Medina”, tomed to seeing their nasabs and laqabs Appleton DB. Period Arabic names and naming and al-Makki, “of Mecca”. Examples of dropped to conform with Western custom practices. www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/arabic tribal names include al-Rashidi, al-Harbi, and the practice of keeping names short. In -naming2.htm. Accessed 10 July 2004. and al-Makhzumi. (Al Sa’ud, by the way, alphabetizing Arabic names, The Chicago means “the family of Sa’ud”—Sa’ud is an Manual of Style advises dropping the al- or The Chicago manual of style, ed 15. Chicago: The ism—and thus is written differently.). One el-, which is essentially the article the in University of Chicago Press; 2003. difference from Western practice is that Arabic, and having the element that fol- Arabic women do not take their husband’s lows determine the alphabetical order. For Language hat. 14 May 2003. www.languagehat.com names when they marry. They retain the example, Samir al-Badawi would be printed /archives/000594.php. Accessed 10 July 2004. names they were given at birth. Children, Badawi, Samir al- or al-Badawi, Samir, and however, do take their father’s name. alphabetized in the Bs. However, as with The meaning of Arabic names. www.jannah.org One problem faced by editors is that the other features of the Arabic naming sys- /sisters/names.html. Accessed 10 July 2004. spelling of a particular Arabic name can tem, this one has exceptions and is often vary because of inconsistent transliteration dictated by personal preference.

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