Arabic Names

WARNING: Do not cite this page as a reference. This page is on this wiki only to make the content "searchable" and easier to find. If you find the information you seek here, go to the original sources to verify the information and use them for your documentation.

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Sources:

Academy of St. Gabriel - http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/islamic.shtml
Archive of St. Gabriel reports - http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/archive.cgi

Laurel Name Articles - http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/

"Arabic Names from al-Andalus" by Juliana de Luna (Julia Smith) - http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/alandalus/

CALD Database - searchable database of early Islamic law. http://cald.irht.cnrs.fr/php/ilm.php?LANGUE=1

"Futuhusham" The Islamic Conquest of Syria - period text with names, translated excerpts available at Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=qM0tAQAAIAAJ&q=khawlah&dq=khawlah&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YknIUfzAN-zD4APHo4H4Bg&ved=0CF0Q6AEwCTgU

Inscriptions of Israel / Palestine - http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/Inscriptions/ - inscriptions (with English translations) of Israel/Palestine from the Persian period through the Islamic conquest (ca. 500 BCE - 640 CE).

"Islamic Names" by Annemarie Schlimmel

"Son of the Hot-Tempered Woman": Women's Names in Arabic Bynames by Juliana de Luna (Julia Smith) http://medievalscotland.org/jes/ArabicMatronymics/

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General Introduction to Arabic Names, by Basil Dragonstrike

Names From the Diary of Ibn al-Bannāʼ, as Translated by George Makdisi, collected and arranged by Basil Dragonstrike

• Nickbynames from Ibn Baṭūṭṭa by Basil Dragonstrike - https://s-gabriel.org/names/basil/battuta/Nickbynames.html

Names Found in the First Volume of The Travels of Ibn Baṭūṭṭa, as translated by H. A. R. Gibb collected and arranged by Basil Dragonstrike

• Bynames found in Ibn al-Bannā ʼ by Basil Dragonstrike - https://s-gabriel.org/names/basil/ibnalbanna/Nickbynames.html

Names Found in The Travels of Ibn Jubayr - collected and arranged by Basil Dragonstrike

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"Period Arabic Names and Naming Practices" by Da'ud ibn Auda, (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/arabic-naming2.htm)

"Who was 'Mahumet'? Arabs in Angevin England" - http://users.ox.ac.uk/~prosop/prosopon/issue11-1.pdf

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SENA Appendix A: Patterns That Do Not Need Further Documentation by Language Group

http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixA

Arabic

	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order
Arabic	No	Adjectival; al- [adjectival form of place name].	For men ibn B "son of B"for women bin B "daughter of B"	Multi-generational patronymics; Abū B and Umm B (where B is the child’s name)	al-[occupation or description or ethnic group]	No	Yes	Multiple possible variations; see articles below for more information
Notes:
Locative and descriptive bynames must match the gender of the person described; see articles below for more details.
Diacritics (long marks, emphatic marks, etc.) may be used or omitted as long as it is done consistently; see Appendix D for more details about transliteration.
Please refer to Juliana de Luna, "Arabic Names from al-Andalus" or Da'ud ibn Auda, "Arabic Names and Naming Practices" for additional information.

SENA Appendix C: Regional Naming Groups and Their Mixes

http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/sena.html#AppendixC

Regional Groups:	By Time Period:	Languages Included In This Group:	Can Be Combined With Groups:
Arabic	550-1100	Arabic, etc.	Greek. Italian, Iberian
^	1100-1600	Arabic, etc.	Greek, Italian, Iberian, Mongol (per Sept 2012 CL), Persian (per Sept 2012 CL), Turkish

Precedents:

Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/precedents.html
Morsulus Heralds Website - http://www.morsulus.org/ (to search the LoARs and Precedents)
Restatement Wiki - http://yehudaheraldry.com/restatement/index.php?title=Main_Page (restatements of Precedents)
Use the above links to be sure any precedents listed below haven't been superseded by newer precedents.

Collected Precedents of the SCA: Arabic Names - http://heraldry.sca.org/precedents/CompiledNamePrecedents/Arabic.html

November 2022 CL - Classical Arabic Grammar

Many of the standard articles that we use for Arabic names rely on particular transliterations systems, some relatively casual (not distingushing long and short vowels or emphatic consonants from their non-emphatic equivalents) and others relatively complete and scholarly. Most, however, do not clearly show the way the article al- 'the' is pronounced before the "sun consonants" in classical Arabic. For these consonants, the l assimilates to the following sound, so that in the name al-Zahra' the article is pronounced \az\ even though it is written al- in many transliteration systems.

For more information about how the particle al behaves when it is followed by a sun or a moon consonant in Classical Arabic, please reference this excellent guide by Sara al-Garnatiyya, Beacon Principal Herald: https://sarasartsandsciences.wordpress.com/2021/12/12/classical-arabic-grammar-diatrical-marks-the-definite-article-sun-letters-and-moon-letters/. We encourage people to consider transliterations that include that pronunciation information but remind remind submitters and heralds alike that any standard transliteration of non-Roman letters is acceptable, as long as the whole name is consistent, per SENA Appendix D. https://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2021/11/21-11cl.html#3

December 2020 CL - Transliterations of Arabic Names

This month we were asked to consider the transliteration A'isha, which appears in "Period Arabic Names and Naming Practices (2nd edition)" by Da'ud ibn Auda along with several other transliterations of the same name. Since this article was published in 2003, academic work regarding the transliterations of Arabic names has improved. It was shown during the commentary process that A'isha was no longer an acceptable transliteration of its underlying name. Therefore, as of this Cover Letter, we will no longer register this transliteration.

Heralds are reminded that SENA Appendix D has the accepted transliterations for Arabic names (http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixD). As we find other transliterations that no longer meet this standard, we will slowly remove them from use on a case-by-case basis. https://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2020/12/20-12cl.html

==September 2012 Cover Letter: From Palimpsest and Pelican: Mismatches in Appendix C [[1]] A couple enterprising heralds pointed out to me that there were further mismatches in Appendix C of SENA beyond the two repaired in the June 2012 Cover Letter. After consultation with Pelican, it is clear that in all cases of mismatch, they should be resolved by making them compatible in both directions. Appendix C has been updated to resolve all the mismatches. For reference, the updates are as follows (all are listed by Regional Group name): Hungarian/Romanian is added as compatible to German and South Slavic for both 550-1100 and 1100-1600; Mongol is added as compatible to Arabic, Hungarian/Romanian, Russian/East Slavic, and Turkish for 1100-1600; Persian is added as compatible to Arabic and Turkish for 1100-1600; and Turkish is added as compatible to Italian for 1100-1600. Please note that these compatibilities were already listed in Appendix C in the other direction; their omission was an oversight uncaught in proofreading. [[2]]