Arabic Naming Practices And Period Names List
WARNING: This is an out-dated copy of this article which contains
errors. It is here only for reference; you should use the
new version, which contains more information and several corrections.
by Da'ud ibn Auda
© 1998 by David Appleton; all rights reserved.
Editted 1998, 2000, 2001
Arval Benicoeur
from a copy posted at
al-musta'rib.
Arabic naming practices fall into seven general categories. Persons
are often named:
-
By an 'ism, a single personal name, as Muhammad (Mohammed), Musa (Moses),
Ibrahim (Abraham), Hasan, Ahmad. Adults are seldom called by their given
names; socially it is considered a slight to use the first name of an elder
or parent.
-
By a kunya, an honorific name, as the father or mother of certain persons
(usually the eldest son), e.g., abu Da'ud [the father of David], umm Salim
[the mother of Salim]. Married ladies are, as a general rule, simply called
after the name of their first son, e.g., umm Ahmad [the mother of Ahmad].
-
By a nasab, a patronymic or pedigree, as the son or daughter of a certain
one, e.g., ibn 'Umar [the son of Omar], bint 'Abbas [the daughter of 'Abbas].
The nasab is always a patronymic, the <son or daughter> of <father's
name>. The only notable exception to this, a matronymic, was a special
case: 'Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus the son of Mary).
-
By a lakab, a combination of words into a cognomen or epithet, usually
religious, relating to nature, a descriptive, or of some admirable quality
the person has (or would like to have), e.g., 'Abd Allah (Abdullah) [Servant
of God], Harun al-Rashid [Aaron the Rightly-guided].
-
By a nickname of harmless signification. "Harmless signification" of
this sort was often meant to avert the evil eye or the unwanted attention
of jinn ("genies") and other evil spirits.
-
By an occupational hisba, derived from a person's trade or profession,
e.g., Muhammad al-Hallaj [Mohammed the dresser of cotton].
-
By a geographical hisba, derived from the place of residence or birth,
e.g., Yusuf al-Isfahani [Joseph of Isfahan].
These various general rules can be, and often were, combined in the
name of single individual, sometimes to an almost excessive degree. For
example, the compiler of the chief book of Hadith (Traditions and Sayings
of the Prophet Muhammad) is known as Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma'il
ibn Ibrahim ibh Mughirah al-Ju'fi al-Bukhari, or (roughly), the father
of Abdullah, Muhammad, the son of Ishmael, who was the son of Abraham,
who was the son of Mughirah, of the tribe of Ju'fi, a native of Bukhara.
Or the author of an early cookbook, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad
ibn al-Karim al-Katib al-Baghdadi (he is usually called "al-Baghdadi" [the
Baghdadian] for short).
During the Crusades period many names followed the pattern
of Honorific (or Cognomen) + Personal Name + Cognomen, e.g., Badr al-Din
Baktash al-Najmi, or Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Mustansir.
Name elements including the phrases al-Din (of the faith),
al-Dawla (of the state), al-Islam (of Islam) and al-Mulk (of the kingdom)
were a specific type of honorific which was used almost exclusively by
sultans, qazis and a few others of very high rank. Such name elements are
not appropriate for use in the SCA.
The teachings of Muhammad influenced Arabic (and Islamic) naming
practices. The following are some examples from the Hadith:
"The best names in the sight of God are 'Abdu 'llah ('Abdullah)
[the servant of God], 'Abd al-Rahman [servant of the Merciful One].
"Call your children after your Prophet [Muhammad remains the
most popular Muslim name], but the names God likes best are 'Abdu 'llah,
'Abd al-Rahman, and the next best names are Haris [Husbandman] and Humam
[High-minded]. The worst of names is Harb [enmity], or Murrah [bitterness].
"The vilest name you can give a human being is Maliku al-Amlak,
or "King of kings", because no one can be such but God Himself.
"You must not name your slaves Yasar [Abundance], Rabah [Gain],
Najih [Prosperity], Aflah [Felicitous], because if you ask after one of
these your domestic servants, and he be not present, the negative reply
will express that abundance, or gain, or prosperity, or felicity, are not
in your dwelling."
Suraih ibn Hani' related that his father came to the Prophet
with his tribe, and the Prophet heard them calling him Abu al-Hakam. The
Prophet said, "Why do you call him so? Hakam, 'Ruler', is a attribute of
God." And the Prophet ordered him to call himself Abu Shuraih, i.e., the
father of Shuraih, his eldest son.
Some names were used both as a given name and as a cognomen;
e.g., Rashid ("Guide") and al-Rashid ("the Rightly-guided"); Hasan and
al-Hasan; Anbar and al-Anbar.
A note on pronunciation -- in some cognomens, the "l" in "al"
is dropped and the first letter of the following word is substituted for
it for words beginning with the following consonants: d (ad-Duri), n (an-Najmi),
r (ar-Razi), s (as-Salar), sh (ash-Sahnfara), t (at-Tayyib), th (ath-Thaqafi),
and z (az-Zubair). This applies to the pronunciation only; these names
are still written "al-".
Men's Given Names
'Abd al-Aziz |
'Abd al-Baki |
'Abd al-Hamid |
'Abd al-Latif |
'Abd al-Malik |
'Abd al-Muttalib |
'Abd al-Rahman |
'Abdu'llah |
'Ali |
'Amr |
'Anbar |
'Attiyah |
'Ayyad |
Abraha |
Ahmad |
Ayyub |
Badr |
Bakhtiyar |
Bakr |
Balban |
Balj |
Baqiyya |
Barmak |
Basasiri |
Bashshar |
Bursuq |
Butrus |
Da'ud |
Dharr |
Duqaq |
Durayd |
Fadl |
Farraj |
Firas |
Ghanai'm |
Ghazi |
Habib |
Hajjaj |
|
Hakim |
Hamdan |
Hamzah |
Hanbal |
Hanif |
Haris |
Harith |
Haroun |
Hasan |
Hashim |
Hilal |
Humam |
Husain |
'Isa |
Ibrahim |
Ishaq |
Isma'il |
Isra'il |
Ja'bar |
Jabir |
Ja'lal |
Ja'mal |
Jamil |
Jawhar |
Jibril |
Jubair |
Jurdik |
Ka'im |
Kamal |
Kamil |
Khalid |
Khalil |
Khurdadhbih |
Kutaiba |
Labid |
Lahab |
Lu'la'a |
Lu'lu' |
|
Luqman |
Mahbub |
Mahmud |
Majnun |
Ma'mun |
Mansur |
Masruq |
Mas'ud |
Maudad |
Mika'il |
Mubarak |
Muhammad |
Mu'in |
Munqidh |
Muqallad |
Murshid |
Musa |
Musaykah |
Mutawakkil |
Nadr |
Nafi' |
Nasr |
Nasir |
Nuh |
Muwas |
Othman |
Qadir |
Qaraja |
Qasim |
Qays |
Qutaiba |
Qutuz |
Radi |
Rafi |
Rashid |
Ridwan |
Ruzzik |
Sabah |
|
Sbaih |
Sa'd |
Sadaqat |
Safwan |
Salih |
Salim |
Sayyar |
Shakir |
Sulaiman |
Sunqur |
Tahir |
Talib |
Tammam |
Tarafa |
Tashfin |
Tayyib |
Todros |
Tulun |
Tutush |
'Ubaida |
'Umar |
'Uthman |
Usama |
Wafid |
Wahib |
Wathiq |
Yahyah |
Ya'qub |
Yasar |
Yazdanyar |
Yildirim |
Yusuf |
Zafar |
Zahir |
Zang |
Ziyadatallah |
Zubair |
Zuhair |
|
Men's Cognomens
al-'Adim |
al-'Adl |
al-'As |
al-Abras |
al-Afdal |
al-Ansari |
al-Ashraf |
al-Asqualani |
al-Badawi |
al-Baghdadi |
al-Baqa |
al-Bawwab |
al-Biruni |
al-Busti |
al-Damiri |
al-Daqiq |
al-Djahiz |
al-Fadl |
al-Faqih |
al-Faraj |
al-Farid |
al-Fath |
al-Futuh |
al-Ghabra |
al-Ghani |
al-Ghazali |
al-Habhab |
al-Hafiz |
al-Hajjaj |
al-Hakam |
al-Hakan |
al-Hallaj |
al-Hamid |
al-Hariri |
al-Harith |
al-Hasan |
al-Hindi |
al-Husayn |
al-'Id |
al-'Iraqi |
al-Idrisi |
al-Ikhshid |
al-Jahiz |
al-Janah |
al-Jili |
al-Jizi |
al-Jurjani |
al-Kabir |
al-Kamil |
al-Kasim |
al-Khadim |
al-Khattab |
|
al-Khawas |
al-Khayyami |
al-Khayyat |
al-Khidr |
al-Kumayt |
al-Latif |
al-Mahasin |
al-Mahdi |
al-Ma'mun |
al-Mansur |
al-Mashtub |
al-Mu'ayyad |
al-Mubarrak |
al-Muhibb |
al-Muslim |
al-Nabighah |
al-Najmi |
al-Nu'man |
al-Qahir |
al-Qa'id |
al-Qama |
al-Qasim |
al-Qays |
al-Rashid |
al-Rida |
al-Sabi' |
al-Sadiq |
al-Safa |
al-Salar |
al-Samh |
al-Samsam |
al-Sarraj |
al-Shatir |
al-Shuyukh |
al-Siddiq |
al-Tabib |
al-Tammah |
al-Tayyib |
al-Timidh |
al-Tiqtaqa |
al-'Uqab |
al-Umara' |
al-Wahid |
al-Walid |
al-Ward |
al-Warraq |
al-Zafir |
al-Zahir |
al-Zaki |
al-Zaman |
al-Zubair |
|
Women's Given Names
'Abdah |
'Abla |
'Afra' |
'A'isha |
Amimah |
Aminah |
Ara |
Asiya |
Asma' |
'Atikah |
'Azzah |
Banah |
Banujah |
Bilqis |
Buthayna |
Dahah |
Daifa |
Dananir |
Duqaq |
Fadl |
Fatimah |
Fawz |
Ghaniyah |
|
Ghaythah |
Hababah |
Hafsah |
Halima |
Hanifa |
Harithah |
Hawwa |
Hind |
Huma'i |
'Ijliyah |
'Ilm |
'Inan |
Jaida |
|
Juml |
Khadijah |
Layla |
Lubna |
Lu'lu'ah |
Malak |
Maimunah |
|
Manhalah |
Mariyah |
Maryam |
Maysun |
Mayy |
Mellilah |
Munya |
Nadrah |
Naima |
Nu'm |
Qabihah |
Qabul |
Qaribah |
Rabab |
Rabi'ah |
Raful |
Raym |
Rayya |
Ruqayyah |
Rusa |
Saduf |
Safia |
Safwah |
Saham |
|
Sajah |
Sakan |
Salamah |
Salma |
Sara |
Semeeah |
Shajar |
Shiklah |
Su'ad |
Sukaynah |
Sulma |
Sumnah |
Tarifa |
Thana' |
'Ulayyah |
Umamah |
'Utbah |
Wahshiyah |
Warwar |
Zaynab |
Zebeebah |
Zubaydah |
Zulaikha |
|
Women's Cognomens
al-'Amiriyah | woman of 'Amiri's tribe |
al-Khansa' | the pug-nosed |
al-Khayzuran |
al-Zarqa' | the blue-eyed |
Bibliography:
Adams, Cecil, More of the Straight Dope, Ballantine
Books, New York, 1988
Auda, Da'ud ibn (David Appleton), "Arabic Naming Practices",
from the Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium, Free Trumpet
Press West, Berkeley, 1987
bin Muhammad H. Kabir, Bahir, A Guide to Islamic Names,
Safa Press, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, 1990
Dodge, Bayard, ed. and transl., The Fihrist of al-Nadim,
A Tenth-Century Survey of Muslim Culture, Columbia University Press,
New York, 1970, two volumes
Gabrieli, Francesco, transl., Arab Historians of the Crusades,
University of California Press, Berkeley, 1957, 362 pp.
Hamori, Andras, On the Art of Medieval Arabic Literature,
Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 1974
Hodgson, Marshall G. S., The Venture of Islam, Vol.
1, The Classical Age of Islam, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1974,
532 pp.
Hughes, Thomas Patrick, Dictionary of Islam, Oriental
Books Reprint Corporation, New Delhi, 1976 (repr. of 1885 ed.), 750 pp.
Jaschke, Richard, English-Arabic Conversational Dictionary,
Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, 1976, 392 pp.
Lewis, Bernard, The Arabs in History, Harper & Row,
New York, 1958, 200 pp.
Qazi, M. A., What's in a Muslim Name, Kazi Publications,
Chicago, 1974, 54 pp.
Saunders, J. J., A History of Medieval Islam, Routledge
and Kegan Paul, London, 1965, 219 pp.
Smith, Elsdon C., Treasury of Name Lore, Harper &
Row, Publishers, New York, 1967.
von Grunebaum, Gustave E., Medieval Islam, University
of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1946, 378 pp.
Editted and published by
Arval Benicoeur