The tughra (stylized signature) of Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire. Influenced by Arabic culture, Ottoman rulers had stylized their names in the Arabic way, as depicted in this signature.

Old Arabic names are based on a long naming system: most Arabs do not simply have first/middle/last names, but a full chain of names. This system is in use throughout the Arab world. Because of the importance of the Arabic language in Islam, a large majority of the world's Muslims use Arabic names (ism), but it is not common outside the Arab world to employ the full naming conventions described below. Image File history File links Tugra_Mahmuds_II.gif Animated Tughra Mahmud II showing the structure of the calligraphy. ... The tughra of Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire. ... Sultan (Arabic: سلطان) is an Islamic title, with several historical meanings. ... The stylized signature of Mahmud II was written in an expressive calligraphy. ... “Ottoman” redirects here. ... Languages Arabic and other minority languages Religions Islam, Christianity, Druzism and Judaism Arab woman from Ramallah wearing traditional dress in 1915. ... “Arab States” redirects here. ... “Arabic” redirects here. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ...

Structure of the Arabic name

[[Media:Example.ogg

^{Superscript text}]]

Headline text

Ism (Arabic: اسم)

The main name of an Arab person is the ism, his or her personal name (e.g. "Karim" or "Fatima"). Most Arabic names are originally Arabic words with a meaning, usually signalling the good character of the person. Indeed, karīm means "generous", maħmūd means "praiseworthy", and both words are employed as adjectives and nouns in regular language. Arab newspapers sometimes try to avoid confusion by placing names in brackets or between quotation marks. Generally, context and grammar will indicate how the word is being used, but foreign students of Arabic may initially have trouble with this. // In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjectives subject), giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to. ... In linguistics, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members combine with other grammatical kinds of expressions. ...

• Muslim practices

A very common form for Muslim Arab names is the combination of `abd followed by another word: `abd X means "servant of X" or "slave of X", where X is a word describing Allah (God), often one of the Muslim 99 Names of God. The result is a name such as Abdullah ("Submissive to the God") or Abdurrashid ("Submissive to the Righteous One"). "Abdul" used by itself means "slave of the" and is a shortened name not a complete name.

• Christian practices

To an extent most Christian Arabs have names that are indistinguishable from those of their Muslim neighbors, but Christian Arabs do not use specifically Muslim names such as Mohammed. There are also Arabic versions of Christian names (i.e. saints' names), and names of Greek, Armenian, or Assyrian origin. Adoption of European names, especially French ones, has been a centuries-long convention for Arab Christians — especially (but not only) in the Levant. Thus, George Habash, Charles Helou, Camille Chamoun, etc.

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The 99 Names of God, also known as The 99 Attributes of God (Arabic: transliteration: ), are the names of God revealed in the Quran and Sunnah;[1] even though the names (as adjectives, word constructs, or otherwise) exceed ninety-nine in the Quran and Sunnah. ... Christian Arabs are found mainly in Lebanon, with significant other populations in Iraq (e. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... The term Assyrian language can mean one of: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: a language spoken in Israel, Syria, and Mesopotamia from perhaps 700 BC until now. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... The Levant The Levant (IPA: ) is an imprecise geographical term historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east. ... George Habash (Arabic جورج حبش) (born August 2, 1926 in Lod), sometimes known by his nom de guerre Al-Hakim, الحكيم, meaning the doctor, is a Palestinian politician, formerly a militant, and the founder and former Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. ... Charles Hélou (December 25, 1912, Beirut) was president of Lebanon from 1964 to 1970. ... Camille Chamoun Camille Nimr Chamoun (b. ...

Kunya كنية

Often, a kunya referring to the person's first-born son is used as a substitute for the ism: for example, "Abu Karim" for "Father of Karim". It can refer to the person's first-born daughter, e.g. the kunya of the former leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: "Abu Hajar". The female variant is "Umm", thus "Umm Karim". The kunya precedes the ism when not replacing it. A kunya (Arabic: ) is an honorific widely used in place of given names through the Arab world. ... Ab means father in most Semitic languages (in Arabic, Abū), sometimes extended to Abba or Aba. ...

Nasab نسب

The nasab is a patronymic or series of patronymics. It indicates the person's heritage by the word ibn (sometimes bin) which means "son". Thus Ibn Khaldun means "son of Khaldun" (Khaldun is the father's ism, or proper name). Several nasab can follow in a chain, to trace a person's ancestry backwards in time. This was important in the tribally based society of the ancient Arabs, both for purposes of identification and for social and political interaction. Look up patronymic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun (full name Arabic: , ) (May 27, 1332/732AH – March 19, 1406/808AH), was a famous Arab Muslim historian, historiographer, demographer, economist, philosopher and sociologist born in present-day Tunisia. ... http://www. ...

Laqab لقب

The laqab is intended as a description of the person. So, for example, in the name of the famous Abbasid Caliph Haroun al-Rashid (of A Thousand and One Nights fame), Haroun is the Arabic form for Aaron, and "al-Rashid" means "the righteous" or "the rightly-guided". Mashriq Dynasties  Maghrib Dynasties  The Abbasid Caliphate Abbasid (Arabic: , ) is the dynastic name generally given to the caliph of Baghdad, the second of the two great Sunni dynasties of the Arab Empire, that overthrew the Umayyad caliphs from all but Spain. ... For main article see: Caliphate The Caliph (pronounced khaleef in Arabic) is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, or global Islamic nation. ... Harun al-Rashid (Arabic هارون الرشيد also spelled Harun ar-Rashid, Haroun al-Rashid or Haroon al Rasheed; English: Aaron the Upright; ca. ... The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (كتاب ألف ليلة و ليلة in Arabic or هزار و یک شب in Persian), also known as The book of a Thousand Nights and a Night...

Nisba نسبة

The nisba describes a person's occupation, geographic home area, or descent (tribe, family, etc). It will follow a family through several generations, and it is for example common to find people with the name al-miṣrī (the Egyptian, or rather "of Egypt") in many places in the Middle East, despite the fact that their families may have resided outside Egypt for several generations. The nisba, among the components of the Arabic name perhaps most closely resembles the Western surname. Adding a nesbat (Arabic: ‎ relation) is the practice of adding a word at the end of a persons name as a specifier [1]. // Use In Arabic cultures, they do not use family names or surnames, instead, they use patronymics. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...

Example

Abu Karim Muhammad al-Jamil ibn Nidal ibn Abdulaziz al-Filistini

abū karīm muhammadu-l-jamīl ibn nidāl ibn 'abdi-'azīzi-l-filistīnī

This means, in translation:

"Father-of-Karim, Muhammad, the beautiful, son of Nidal, son of Abdulaziz, the Palestinian"

(karim means generous, muhammad means praised, jamīl means beautiful; azīz means Magnificent, and it is one of the 99 names of God.)

Abu Karim is a kunya, Muhammad is the person's proper name (ism), al-Jamil is a laqab, Nidal is his father (a nasab), Abdulaziz his grandfather (second-generation nasab) and "al-Filistini" is his family nisba. Normally, this person would simply be referred to as "Muhammad" or "Abu Karim", but to signify respect or to specify which Mohammad we are speaking about (namely, the beautiful son of Nidal and grandson of Abdulaziz from Palestine), the name could be lengthened as above, to the extent necessary or desired. The 99 Names of God, also known as The 99 Attributes of God (Arabic: transliteration: ), are the names of God revealed in the Quran and Sunnah;[1] even though the names (as adjectives, word constructs, or otherwise) exceed ninety-nine in the Quran and Sunnah. ... This article is about the geographical area known as Palestine. ...

Westernization of Arabic naming practices and names

Many Arabic countries have now adopted a Westernized way of naming. This is the case for example in Lebanon and Maghreb countries where French conventions are followed, and it is rapidly gaining ground elsewhere. “Arab States” redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Also, many Arabs adapt to Western conventions for practical purposes when travelling or when residing in Western countries, constructing a first name/surname 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 surprise of many Westerners when asked to supply their first name, second name, father's name and family name in some Arab visa applications. Entry visa valid in Schengen treaty countries. ...

The Westernization of an Arab name may require transliteration. Often, one name may be transliterated in several different ways (Abdul Rahman, Abdoul Rahman, Abdur Rahman, Abd al-Rahman, or Abd ar-Rahman), as there is no single accepted system. A single individual may even try out several different ways of transliterating his or her name, producing even greater inconsistency. Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... Due to the fact that the Arabic language has a number of phonemes that have no equivalent in English or other European languages, a number of different transliteration methods have been invented to represent certain Arabic characters, due to various conflicting goals: A desire to stay consistent with traditional usage...

Common mistakes

This article or section is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style.

It is important to note that, while such names may be written "Abdul (something)", "Abdul" means "servant of the" and is not, by itself, a name. Thus, to address Abdul Rahman bin Omar al-Ahmad by his given name, one must say "Abdul Rahman", not merely "Abdul". If he introduces himself as "Abdul Rahman" (which means "the servant of the Compassionate One"), one must not say "Mr Rahman", (as "Rahman" is not a surname but part of his personal name) Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Shortcut: WP:WIN Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia and, as a means to that end, also an online community. ... Shortcut: WP:CU Marking articles for cleanup This page is undergoing a transition to an easier-to-maintain format. ... This Manual of Style has the simple purpose of making things easy to read by following a consistent format — it is a style guide. ...

Another mistake sometimes happens with names including the Arabic word `alā' علاء = "nobility". (Here, ` represents the ayin sound, the voiced pharyngeal fricative, and ' represents the hamza sound, the glottal stop.) In Arabic pronunciation, `alā and Allāh are clearly different. But Europeans, Iranians and Indians often cannot pronounce some Arabic sounds correctly, and tend to pronounce these two names the same. For example, an internet search will find many instances of the Muslim man's name `Alā'-ed-dīn = "the nobility of the religion" misspelt as Allah-ed-din. (This name is known to Western culture as Aladdin.) Furthermore a name such as Khalid (خالد) should not be pronounced with an initial k-sound but rather with the consonant sound similar to that of the 'ch' in the name Bach (German composer). or Ayin is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic (in abjadi order). ... The voiced pharyngeal approximant/fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... Hamza () is a letter in the Arabic alphabet, representing the glottal stop . ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... For this articles equivalent regarding the East, see Eastern culture. ... Aladdin in the Magic Garden, an illustration by Max Liebert from Ludwig Fuldas Aladin und die Wunderlampe Aladdin (an adaptation of the Arabic name , Arabic: علاء الدين literally nobility of faith) is one of the tales with an Ancient Arabian origin[1] in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights... In music, the BACH motif is the sequence of notes B flat, A, C, B natural. ...

Another mistake can result from differences between Arabic grammar and the grammar of some other languages. Arabic forms noun compounds in the opposite order from 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, as described in the previous paragraph; but if not:- By the rules of Arabic grammar, this name means "the Allah who belongs to Muhammad", which is not acceptable as a man's name. But by the rules of Iranian and most Indian languages this name means "the Muhammad who belongs to Allah", which is acceptable; the Arabic equivalent is "Muhammad Ullah". Most Afghans speak Iranian languages. Such mismatched and grammatically incorrect Arabic and Arabic-Persian compound names are not uncommon in Afghanistan. For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... For other places with the same name, see Kabul (disambiguation). ... Tailor in Labuje IDP camp in Uganda An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who has been forced to leave their home for reasons such as religious or political persecution or war, but has not crossed an international border. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... The article describes the languages spoken in the Republic of India. ... Ethnic groups of Afghanistan (1980 map)  42% Pashtun  27% Tajik  9% Hazara  9% Uzbek         3% Turkmen  2% Baloch        Languages of Afghanistan (1980 map)  50% Dari dialect of Persian  35% Pashto  8% Uzbek  3% Turkmen  2% Baloch        The Demographics of Afghanistan are ethnically and linguistically mixed. ...

Another mistake can result from Europeans not understanding Arabic sandhi in genitive constructions: Habību-llāh = "beloved of God"; here a European may in error report the man's name as 'forename "Habib", surname "Ullah"'. Likewise, Westerners may confuse a name such as Jalālu-d-dīn ("Majesty of the Religion") as being "Jalal Uddin", or "Mr. Uddin", when "Uddin" is not a surname, but three separate morphemes, viz. the desinence -u of the construct state nominative, the article, appearing as -d-, and the genitive dīn[i]. Although, to add to the confusion, some immigrants to Western countries have adopted Uddin as a surname, although it is grammatically incorrect outside the context of the associated "first name". Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. ... Arabic is a Semitic language. ... The status constructus or construct state is a remarkable grammatical feature occurring in Semitic languages (such as Arabic and Hebrew) and in the extinct Egyptian language. ... Al- is not a permanent component of words, as shown here with , the Arabic for Bahrain. ...

Problems may be presented by transliteration. The general rule is to follow the transliterated spelling adopted by the individual in question, if it exists, or else to follow one of the available systems. If someone has decided to spell his name "Mohammed", it is somewhat rude to refuse to accept this and to insist on "Muhammad," even if "Muhammad" is the preferred transliteration among scholars. Similarly, to refer to the late President Nasser of Egypt as "Jamal 'Abd al-Nasir" would be technically correct, but likely to produce confusion. Due to the fact that the Arabic language has a number of phonemes that have no equivalent in English or other European languages, a number of different transliteration methods have been invented to represent certain Arabic characters, due to various conflicting goals: A desire to stay consistent with traditional usage... Due to the fact that the Arabic language has a number of phonemes that have no equivalent in English or other European languages, a number of different transliteration methods have been invented to represent certain Arabic characters, due to various conflicting goals: A desire to stay consistent with traditional usage... Gamal Abdel Nasser (Arabic: - ; Masri: جمال عبد الناصر - also transliterated as Jamal Abd al-Naser, Jamal Abd an-Nasser and other variants; January 15, 1918 – September 28, 1970) was the President of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. ...

Modern and regional variations

• While the ibn/bin prefix is still commonly used in names, its use is declining; in some places, this prefix is only used in government interactions, and in other places it is dropped altogether. In Mauritania its usage is still common, but ever since the colonial era many people have preferred the dialectal form ould (ولد, pronounced [wulː]).
• Syria retains a heavy Turkish influence, which is reflected in commonly found names of Turkish and Kurdish origin; e.g. Adib al-Shishakli.
• Maghribi names are quite distinctive due to heavy Berber (Tamazigh) and French influences.
• In certain Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, the name Mohammed or Muhammad (often abbreviated to Mohd.) commonly precedes a male Muslim's given name, followed by the word "bin" and his father's name, for example Muhammad Amin bin Hashim. If the person has performed the Hajj, the honorific "Haji" would be prefixed to his name, for example Haji Muhammad Amin bin Hashim, or even Haji Muhammad Amin bin Haji Hashim. Persons claiming descent from Prophet Muhammad may carry the title "Syed" or "Sheikh" ("Sharifah" or "Siti" for females) before their name and a family name may follow the personal name, for example Syed Muhammad Amin al-Habshi bin Syed Hashim al-Habshi.
• In Afghanistan, persons claiming to be related to the prophet are called Sayeds, and all the males in the family carry the title of Mir, rather than the last name of Hashimi or Hashem. People belonging to this group will have either the last name Hashimi or have the title Mir in front of their names, but not both. An example of an afghan who claims to trace their lineage to the prophet will be Mir Abdul Rahman, Mir being the title linking them to the Prophet Muhammad but not being a part of their first name, which would be Abdul Rahman. Afghan women who are Sayeds carry no title in front of their names; some carry the last name Hashimi, which indicates their lineage and is kept by many even after marriage, as in Islam women are not required to take their husband's last name.
• Many Jews of Temani, Mizrahi and Arabicized Sephardi extraction often maintain Arab surnames and adopt Arab names common to Arab Jews, even in the West; e.g. Paula Abdul and Loolwa Khazzoom.
• In Western China, officials will, when spelling a native name in Chinese characters, sometimes represent "Muhammad" by the Chinese character 馬/马 mǎ.^{[citation needed]}
• Sometimes Muslim or otherwise Arabic names are used by people who are not Muslims or even have origins in the Middle East. Examples are: Ayesha, Fatima (see each name for information as to why), and the USA army commander Omar Bradley.

Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ... Adib Shishakli (1909-1964), Syrian politician and military officer. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Berber languages (or Tamazight) are a group of closely related languages mainly spoken in Morocco and Algeria. ... This article is about the Islamic tradition. ... Yemenite Jews (תֵּימָנִי, Standard Hebrew Temani, Tiberian Hebrew Têmānî; plural תֵּימָנִים, Standard Hebrew Temanim, Tiberian Hebrew Têmānîm) are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors... Mizrachi is also an organisation of the Religious Zionist Movement Mizrahi Jews or Oriental Jews (מזרחי eastern, Standard Hebrew Mizraḥi, Tiberian Hebrew Mizrāḥî; plural מזרחים easterners, Standard Hebrew Mizraḥim, Tiberian Hebrew Mizrāḥîm... Sephardim (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew SÉ™fardi, Tiberian Hebrew ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Sfaradim, Tiberian Hebrew ) are a subgroup of Jews, generally defined in contrast to Ashkenazim and/or . ... Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American multi-platinum selling Grammy Award-winning singer, dancer, television personality, jewelry designer, and Emmy Award-winning choreographer. ... Loolwa Khazzoom (Arabic: لولوا خزوم) is a Mizrahi Jewish writer who writes about Jewish multiculturalism and the cultural traditions and modern struggles of Sephardi, Mizrahi, Yemenite and Ethiopian Jews. ... The girls name Ayesha is of different originalities, In Persian its meaning is womanly. It also means sporty, active. ... Fatima, or, in a more exact transliterion, Fāţimah (Arabic: فاطمة ), is originally an Arabic name, meaning She who weans, being the name of the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad; after the advent of Islam it became a common Muslim name for women. ... Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II and a General of the Army of the United States Army. ...

Arab family naming convention

In Arabic culture a person's ancestry and his/her family name are very important.

Assume a man has the name of "Saleh bin Tariq bin Khalid Al-Fulani"

"Saleh" is his personal name, and is the name that his family and friends would call him by. "Bin" translates as "son of", so "Tariq" is Saleh's father's name. "Bin Khalid" means that Tariq was the son of Khalid, making Khalid the grandfather of Saleh. "Al-Fulani" would be Saleh's family name.

So "Saleh bin Tariq bin Khalid Al-Fulani" translates as "Saleh, son of Tariq, son of Khaled; of the family Al-Fulani."

Modern naming convention may drop the word "bin" as it is already implied, so Saleh's full name would be "Saleh Tariq Khalid Al-Fulani"

If Saleh was married his wife would keep her maiden name. His sons and daughters will take Saleh's family name, so his son Mohammed would be called "Mohammed bin Saleh bin Tariq Al-Fulani".

The names listed below are used in the Arab world, as well as some other Muslim regions. They are not necessarily of Arabic origin, though most in fact are. For more information see about Arabic names. See also Iranian names and Turkish names.

List of names

It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. (Discuss)

Image File history File links Derived from public domain images featured at: http://commons. ...

External links

• Arabic Nomenclature: A summary guide for beginners. A.F.L. Beeston (Oxford, 1971).
• Page on Arab naming conventions
• Searchable database of Muslim Baby Names