Arabic name

Arabs use a very sophisticated naming system: most do not simply have first/middle/last names, but a full chain of names. This system is still in use in many Arab countries.

Ethnic groups in the different modern Arab countries (by broad definition, any country that employs the Arabic language as mother tongue, one of its common languages or as a lingua-franca) either have adjusted to different modern naming conventions or have retained their traditional naming conventions. Modern Iraqi Muslim Arabs, for example, usually do not use the prefix "bin" before their fathers' names, whereas people in other Arab countries usually do. Some of the "kuniyyat" are passed down generations and became surnames. Some surnames are simply derived from age-old tribal, professional, or clan names. It is usually possible to guess a person's Palestinian origin from their popular use of "Abu" names. Syria retains a heavy Turkish influence, which is reflected in commonly found Turkish surnames (Shishekli, for example). Maghribi names are quite distinctive due to heavy Berber (Tamazigh) influences. Some Christian Arabs, including some from Palestine, like to have names that are indistinguishable from those of their Sunni neighbors, but there are as many Christian Arabs who retain names of Greek, Armenian, or Syriac origins. Adoption of European names, especially French ones, has been a centuries-long convention for Arab Christians – not only in the Levant, but from the Maghreb to Iran. Many Israelis of "Oriental" origins often maintain Arab surnames and adopt Arab names common to Arab Jews. In certain countries like Malaysia and Singapore, male Muslims' names often begin with Mohammed or Muhammed, continued by the given name, followed by the prefix "bin", then his father's name.

Table of contents

1 A simple example 2 Name length 3 Family names 4 Female names 5 Given names

A simple example

Suppose somebody is named Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Omar bin Othman al-Ahmed.

Notice the use of the optional word bin, sometimes spelled ben, which means "son of".

This name translates to Mohammed son of Abdullah son of Omar son of Othman al-Ahmed.

It means his first name is Mohammed, his father's first name is Abdullah, his grandfather's first name is Omar, his great grandfather's first name is Othman and his family name is al-Ahmed.

Name length

A name can be described to any precision required. Some people carry the sequence of names up to the fourth or fifth level, so they use that as a full name; others just use first/last or first/father/last.

Family names

Arabs have a tribal way of describing family; a person could have two or three family names, where each one of them is a smaller group within the larger one.

Female names

Women are named the same way as men, but replacing the word "bin" with "bint" (daughter of) after their first name. The sequence then continues with the names of her father, his father, etc.

Given names

Muslim given names are generally figurative – they express attributes of the person, and their relationship to God For example, Abd, Arabic for "servant", is often used among Muslims as the first part of a proper name, with the second being a name or appellation of God. For example, "Abd Allah" (often written "Abdullah") means "Servant of God," and "Abd al-Rahman" means "Servant of the Most Compassionate" (a common Qur'anic appellation of God). It is important to note that, while such names may be written "Abdul (whatever)", "Abdul" 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".

Other given names include "Ibrahim", which means "father of a multitude" and "Jamil", which means "handsome" or "beautiful".