Arabic-L:LING:Naming Practices Query

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Mon 14 Nov 2005
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Naming Practices Query

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1)
Date: 14 Nov 2005
From:andyf at umich.edu
Subject:Naming Practices Query

Hello All,

             I am doing research on the formation of Arabic names  
according
to the practices prevalent in the present-day Arabic speaking world.

             Currently none of my sources contain any information not  
found
in the following three aarticles.

1)       An article by Da'ud ibn Auda (David B. Appleton) C 2003,  
which can
be found at the URL:

a.       http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/arabic-naming2.htm

2)       The wikipedia article at the URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_name.

3)       A little byline about modern naming conventions in use in Egypt
from page 5 of "Al-Kitaab fii tacallum Al-Carabiyya with DVDs; A  
Textbook
for Beginning Arabic; Part One; Second Edition," by Brustad, Al-Batal  
and
Al-Tonsi.

The first article seems reasonably accurate and has good references,  
but it
is clearly describing naming practices in use before the modern era  
and does
not address any naming practices implemented since the formation of  
nation
states.  Thus, it does not address any differences between traditional
naming practices and legally mandated requirements for names that are
entered onto official documents.  Nor does it address any folk practices
that may have evolved within the last 50 to 100 years.

The wikipedia article does mention that naming practices for personal  
names
in the modern period have changed from those in use in the pre-modern  
eras.
It also points that these practices might well vary in different  
regions of
the Arabic speaking world.  However, the information is not very  
specific on
any of the details.  Another drawback is that I cannot seem to find any
references to any source materials for this article.

The byline from the college-level Arabic language teaching textbook  
is quite
detailed in some respects although it neglects to produce the five
categories described by Da'ud ibn Auda (David B. Appleton) which are:  
ism,
kunya, nasab, laqab and nisba.  It also documents a two-level semi- 
diglossic
system in place where one set of names is in use in most contexts but  
that
another set of names is mandated for use in official documents.  The  
basic
format, in Egypt anyway, seems to be the triplet:{ism} {father's ism}
{family name} which differs from the mandate for legal documents  
which is
the triplet: {ism} {father's ism}{grandfather's ism}.  For my  
purposes this
blurb has two drawbacks.  It is only guaranteed to be true for Egypt and
there are no references.

I would like to be able to answer the following questions for at least
country from each of the Maghrib, the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula.

1)       What constitutes the most fully spelled out form of the name?

2)       What name would go on official documents?

3)       What name would be used in the most informal context?

4)       What other forms of the name would be used and in what  
contexts?
For instance: would person's name as mentioned in a newspaper article  
differ
from its most fully spelled out form?

5)       How does this differ as a function of religious or ethnic  
identity?

6)       How are any of these practices mandated by law?

I am looking for data from any of the following sources.

1)       Scholarly works detailing modern practices and the history  
of these
practices.

2)       Personal anecdotes about practices prevalent in parts of the  
Arab
World, especially from those informants who were raised or who have  
lived
for an extended period of time in an Arabic speaking country.

3)       Personal anecdotes from close friends or relatives raised in  
the
Arabic speaking world detailing naming practices.

4)       Published legal documents in Arabic, French or English  
detailing
the allowed composition of a legal name.

I thank all of you, in advance for any and all help that I might  
receive.

You can reply to the list or directly to me at either of  
afreeman at mitre.org
or andyf at umich.edu.

Sincerely,

Andrew Freeman, PhD (Linguistics & Near Eastern Studies); (BS Computer
Science)
The Mitre Corporation
Artificial Intelligence Engineer
7525 Colshire Dr.
McLean, VA 22102-7508

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End of Arabic-L:  14 Nov 2005