Andalusian Names: Arabs in Spain

by Juliana de Luna (Julia Smith, julias@alumni.pitt.edu)
© 2000, 2001 by Julia E. Smith. All rights reserved.

Arabic names are relatively similar across the Arabic-speaking world. However some regional variation can be seen. This article examines names of Andalusian people taken from biographical dictionaries (a popular genre in the medieval Arab-speaking world). Complete information on given names is given, but special attention is paid to locative hisba (descriptive bynames based on place names) specific to al-Andalus.

The lists of Andalusian names were collected and transcribed by a group of Spanish scholars and published in Estudios Onomastico-Biograficos de al-Andalus. They range in time from around 700 AD until around 1200 AD. In this list, I have followed the transcription system used by Da'ud ibn Auda rather than the trancription system used by scholars, which involves a wide range of diacritical marks. Arabic names are generally longer than European names. A typical individual in these sources may have the following name elements (for a more complete description of name elements, see Da'ud ibn Auda, "Arabic Naming Practices and Period Names List"):

1. A given name ('ism): A given name: This can be a biblical name or a traditional Arabic name. Those given names which are not Arabic, but rather in a Magribi language, are marked with an asterisk (*). Some people do not use given names, but replace them with a certain type of devotional name (see below) or more rarely with honorific names (see below). In either case, the person presumably had a given name as well.

Devotional name - One specific type of lakab can be used in place of a given name. Male devotional forms are made by adding one of the "Hundred Names of God" to 'abd 'servant of' to make 'Abd Allah 'servant of Allah' or 'Abd al-Aziz 'servant of the Strong'. Female devotional forms are made by adding one of the "Hundred Names of God" to Amat 'maidservant of' to make Amat al-Wahid 'maidservant of the Unique'. The female devotional forms are not documented in al-Andalus, but are found elsewhere.

2. An honorific name as the parent of a child, usually the eldest son (kunya):: abu Asim 'father of Asim' or umm Badr 'mother of Badr'. The names are used in unmodified form, so you can create this name created by choosing a masculine name from the list below to be your son (I have not seen cases in which daughter's names were used to create these names in period).


3. A patronymic name: 'son of Moses' or 'daughter of Hasan' (nasab): ibn Musa 'son of Moses' or bint Hasan 'daughter of Hasan'. An individual often traces back several generations of his or her ancestry by stringing these together  ibn Musa ibn Yahya ibn Ibrahim'son of Moses who was son of John who was son of Abraham'. These names are created by selecting a masculine name from the list below to be your father. Matronymics (names based on your mother's name) are not used in Arabic, except for one special case: 'Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus the son of Mary).


4. Nicknames based on occupation, place of residence, or a personal characteristic (hisba or lakab): al-Andalusi 'the man from al-Andalus' or al-Andalusiyya 'the woman from al-Andalus'. These descriptive bynames generally begin with al- 'the'. In spoken Arabic, the consonant 'l' was often assimilated to the following consonant, so that al-Zahra 'the radiant' would have been pronounced \ahz zah rah\.

In the lists of nicknames below, I have provided the English translation of some of them; I'd like to fill in the ones that are missing. If you know the meaning of any of these names, please contact me.

Table of Contents

• Men's given names
• Women's given names
• Locative names from al-Andalus
• Other descriptive names
• Other women's bynames
• Some complete women's names

Men's given names that were found at least twice in these name lists include:

Women's given names found in these name lists include:

Locative names recorded in al-Andalus:

Other descriptive names:

Other women's bynames:

Some complete women's names:

'A'isha al-Andalusiyya, wife of 'Abd allah ibn 'Umar al-Andalusi
'A'isha bint Ibrahim ibn Musa ibn Jamil al-Andalusi
Asma' bint Galib, "maula" of al-Nasir
Baraka, "mu'taqa" of Ibn al-Qassam al-Faqih