UAE Traditions: Naming Conventions
In the Arabic culture, a person’s lineage and the family name are very important as they are based on ancestry. Most Arabs do not simply have first, middle, and last names; but a full chain of names. The classical conception of Arab naming structure conventionally have five parts: The title, the given name, the preposition “bin” that means “son of”, the father’s given name and, at the end, the family name.
As Illustrated by the name of the founder of UAE Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, first comes the title (Sheikh means leader, ruler of an Arab tribe), followed by his given name. The given name of an Arab person is the “ism” (most Arabic names are originally Arabic words with a good meaning): Zayed means growth and progress. “Bin” stands for ‘son of’; Sultan was his father’s given name; ‘al Nahyan’ is Sheikh Zayed’s family name.
Emirati women can use the name of their fathers after the chosen name, following the same naming convention as men; “bint” after a female name indicates that she is the ‘daughter of’. After marriage, women still carry their father’s name and they don’t change to their husband’s family name as commonly used in the Western world. Bin and bint are not used anymore in naming conventions, but is common knowledge to distinguish between genders depending on the given name.
The blessing of a child brings pure joy into a family; besides physical care and love, one of the very first duties parents have is to give the baby a meaningful name. According to the Islamic principles, it is common. To name a baby boy in a way that indicates service to God, in this case, one of the 99 names of Allah can be preceded of the Companions of Prophet Mohammad, or other male names which carry a good meaning.
There are a plenty of possibilities for naming a baby girl too. The most common Muslim names tend to be those of women mentioned in the Quran or members of the Prophet’s family. Combinations of various names is a matter of personal choice but the most important consideration when choosing a name is that it has to be appropriate and it has to indicate a good characteristic of the person named.
Text from the book: UAE 101 Stories and Cultural Learning
