Why Arabic Names Have Become Relatively Common Among African Americans Since The Late 1960s

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision: June 3, 2021

This pancocojams post presents my speculative reasons as to why Arabic names have become relatively common among some African Americans since the late 1960s.

The Addendum to this post is an excerpt of a 2015 pancocojams post entitled Arabic Names That Begin With "Sh" or "Ch".

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural and onomastics purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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This post is part of an ongoing series on distinctive African American names and naming practices.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/possible-origins-meanings-of-names-from.html for a pancocojams post entitled "Traditional African Languages, Arabic Languages, & Other Sources For Names In The 2018 Black Panther Movie".

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-real-sources-of-female-name-keisha.html The REAL Sources Of The Female Name "Keisha"

Other posts in this series can be accessed by clicking the "distinctive African American names" tab below.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This post was prompted by several statements or questions about why African Americans have Arabic names in the discussion thread for the June 27, 2019 YouTube video blog (vlog) entitled "Black Sounding Names And Their Surprising History" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjiGBpdmk_I.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/07/comments-from-africans-about-their.html for another pancocojams post that focuses on that vlog. That post is entitled "Comments From Africans About Their Traditional Names (From The YouTube Vlog:"Black Sounding Names And Their Surprising History".

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EXAMPLES OF STATEMENTS FROM THAT VLOG ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE USING ARABIC NAMES
(These entries are given in no particular order; All of these entries were published between June 27, 2019 and July 5, 2019)
1. juan david restrepo duran
"Very ironic to change the Anglo plantation name to the Arab slaver names"

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2. Drams O'Scotch
"Arabs have been enslaving Blacks for thousands of years and still do to this very day, and y'all adopt their names? Lol. What a joke."

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3. Stew stew Nonyo
"Using Arabic names to renounce “Christian ways of enslaving the people” when Arabs have literally enslaved Africans for over 1400 years. And they continue to do so today. What a total joke."
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There are several other similar examples of these statements. Based on their similarities, I wonder if they were posted by the same person with multiple screen names and/or by members of a specific organization.

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REASONS WHY ARABIC NAMES ARE RELATIVELY COMMON AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS
(These reasons are given in no particular order. Please read the Addendum below for a more "fleshed out" summary of these points.)

1. Arabic names are selected by African Americans who convert to Islam or are given at birth to African Americans who are born into Muslim families (including some members of the Moorish Science Temple and some members of factions of the Nation of Islam. Read information found in the Addendum below).

However, I believe that many African Americans who have Arabic names aren't Muslim.

2. In the late 1960s/1970s some African Americans (like me) were interested in adopting names that were unique (but not too unique) and which connected us to our African heritage. "Pan-African" is one referent for these names that I read in the discussion thread for the YouTube vlog "Black Sounding Names And Their Surprising History" for personal names from the African motherland that African Americans could adopt for themselves and/or give to their children. Whether those names came from cultures which had enslaved people wasn't a factor in our selection process, since slavery occurred in many African cultures, including Black people enslaving other Black people in all or most of the cultures in West Africa.

Furthermore, Islam has been in the African continent since the 7th century AD. Arabic names and versions of those names are not only found in North Africa, but also in East Africa and West Africa.

3. Prior to the publication of name books that included Arabic names, Swahili names, and other traditional African names, and prior to the internet which made non-European names and non-Hebrew names very accessible, African Americans and other Americans had become somewhat familiar with Arabic names as a result of those names being used in fictional works (such as Arabian Nights stories and movies, and movies such as Lawrence of Arabia, and by those names being given to famous people. For example, the Arabic male name "Omar" is familiar to people in the United States because of the Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, the Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet Omar Khayyam, and the Anglo American general Omar Bradley.

Also prior to the internet, African Americans and other Americans became familiar with Arabic names as a result of the conversion to Islam by several famous African American athletes such as Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul Jabbar or jazz musicians such as Yusef Lateef and Rahshaan Roland Kirk. Prior to the internet, African Americans became familiar with Arabic names when other famous African Americans chose those names or were given those names at birth (examples: Jazz musician Ahmad Jamal, singers Queen Latifah, singer Aaliyah, model Iman, actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and actor Kadeem Hardison). Furthermore, African Americans became familiar with Arabic names when fictional television characters were given those names. Example: Queen Latifah portrayed a single woman named Khadijah James in the television sitcom Living Single.

4. African Americans were (and continue to be) interested in Arabic names (and Swahili names) because those names are aesthetically pleasing to us (for instance Arabic names with "sh" sounds).

Arabic names (and Swahili names) have the same or similar construction as Latin based names that we (and other Americans) are familiar with (two or three syllables, no unfamiliar consonant clusters such as "tch" or "gw"; Arabic isn't a tonal language, and Arabic has no click sounds. Arabic names are therefore easy for Americans to pronounce, although we may change the accentuated syllables.

5. Many Arabic names (and Swahili names) have positive and complimentary meanings which are the types of names that appeal to African Americans.

6. Many Arabic (and Swahili names) female names end with an "a" (ah sound) which is a feature that is very familiar to African Americans and other Americans.
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Please add other reasons that you think of that Arabic names are relatively common among African Americans.

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ADDENDUM: EXCERPT FROM 2015 PANCOCOJAMS POST "ARABIC NAMES THAT BEGIN WITH "SHA" OR "CH"
From http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/05/arabic-names-that-begin-with-sh-or-ch.html
"This pancocojams series provides examples and comments about African American naming traditions, including my speculations about why many African Americans have preferred and, in some cases, still prefer certain prefixes and certain suffixes. For example, it's my premise that the large subset of 19th century and, in particular, 20th & 21st century distinctive Black (African American) names that begin with "sh" or "ch" can be at least partially explained by:
1. the existence of a large number of Arabic names and traditional African language names that begin with one of those sounds

2. the pre-1960s existence of mainstream American names and distinctive Black American names that begin with one of those sounds

and

3. the presence of Arabic names with those sounds by fictitious characters or by real people prior to the 1970s on.

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COMMENTS ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICANS RECEIVING OR SELECTING AN AFRICAN NAME PRIOR TO THE 1980s
In the late 1960s some African Americans were very interested in finding lists of African names so that we could change our "slave names" (European or Hebrew language birth names) to "free names" (names from Arabic or traditional African languages.) In those early days of the Black power movement with its interest in African cultures there was no internet, and lists of African names were hard to come by. I recall people in the Committee For Unified Newark, (the cultural nationalist group that I belonged to which eventually was headed by poet, playwright, activist Amiri Baraka, formerly Le Roi Jones), sharing mimeographed (reprinted) copies of African names that we happened to come by. Many of those names were from the Arabic language and others were from KiSwahili, which is largely based on Arabic.

My theory is that early on African Americans developed a fondness for the "sh" or "ch" sound at least partly because of their memories of Arabic/traditional African names that begin with that sound, or have that sound within the name or at the end of the name (such as the "sha" suffix. prefix).

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, African Americans who were interested in changing their names to an African name were more likely to find Arabic names than any other African continent names. Those name were considered very acceptable "free names" for afro-centric African Americans, whether we were Muslim or not. The conversion of several African American celebrities (particularly athletes and Jazz musicians) to Islam was only one reason why Arabic names became known to African Americans. Two African American jazz musicians who changed their names to Arabic names (prior to the 1980s) because of their conversion to Islam or another reason or reasons are Yusef Lateef and Rahshaan Roland Kirk. Two African American athletes who changed their names to Arabic names are Mohammad Ali and Kareem Adul Jabbar.

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AFRICAN AMERICANS & ISLAM PRIOR TO THE 1960S- The Moorish Science Temple and The Nation Of Islam
Excerpt from https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/collection/african-muslims-early-america
"Islam has been a piece of the American religious fabric since the first settlers arrived in North America.

While we do not know exactly how many African Muslims were enslaved and transported to the New World, there are clues in legal doctrines, slaveholders’ documents, and existing cultural and religious traditions. African Muslims were caught in the middle of complicated social and legal attitudes from the very moment they landed on our Eastern shores, and collections at the [Smithsonian] Museum help provide insight into their lives.

I knew several [people] who must have been, from what I have since learned, Mohamedans [Muslims]; though at that time, I had never heard of the religion of Mohamed. There was one man on this plantation … who prayed five times every day, always turning his face to the east, when in the performance of his devotion.
CHARLES BALL, 1837

African Muslims were an integral part of creating America from mapping its borders to fighting against British rule. Muslims first came to North America in the 1500s as part of colonial expeditions. One of these explorers, Mustafa Zemmouri (also known as Estevanico), was sold by the Portuguese into slavery in 1522. While enslaved by Spanish conquistador Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Estevanico became one of the first Africans to set foot on the North American continent. He explored Florida and the Gulf Coast, eventually traveling as far west as New Mexico.

African Muslims also fought alongside colonists during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Multiple men with Muslim names appear on the military muster rolls, including Bampett Muhamed, Yusuf ben Ali (also known as Joseph Benhaley), and Joseph Saba. Other men listed on muster rolls have names that are likely connected to Islamic practice, such as Salem Poor and Peter Salem, whose names may reflect a form of the Arabic salaam, meaning peace. These men often distinguished themselves on the battlefield.

The founding fathers were aware of Islam and the presence of Muslims in America. Thomas Jefferson, who owned a copy of the Quran, included Islam in many of his early writings and political treatises.... Jefferson was not the only statesman who recognized religions other than Christianity in his work. However, their knowledge of and theoretical openness to Islam did not stop them from enslaving African Muslims."...

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From https://www.amazon.com/Muslim-American-Slave-Wisconsin-Autobiography/dp/0299249549 book review A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn Said
by Omar Ibn Said (Author), Ala Alryyes (Editor), July 20, 2011
"Born to a wealthy family in West Africa around 1770, Omar Ibn Said was abducted and sold into slavery in the United States, where he came to the attention of a prominent North Carolina family after filling “the walls of his room with piteous petitions to be released, all written in the Arabic language,” as one local newspaper reported. Ibn Said soon became a local celebrity, and in 1831 he was asked to write his life story, producing the only known surviving American slave narrative written in Arabic.

In A Muslim American Slave, scholar and translator Ala Alryyes offers both a definitive translation and an authoritative edition of this singularly important work, lending new insights into the early history of Islam in America and exploring the multiple, shifting interpretations of Ibn Said’s narrative by the nineteenth-century missionaries, ethnographers, and intellectuals who championed it."...
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I doubt whether the history of Africans who were Muslims and who were enslaved in the United States contributed greatly to the custom in the late 1960s/early 1970s of African Americans adopting Arabic names to themselves and/or giving Arabic names to their children at birth or otherwise. However, I believe the seldom acknowledged history of  Islam among Black people in the United States prior to the 1960s contributed to our (African Americans') aesthetic preferences for certain names, certain prefixes, and certain suffixes.    

The Moorish Science Temple is one example of the seldom acknowledged history of  Islam in the United States. 

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorish_Science_Temple_of_America
"The Moorish Science Temple of America is an American national and religious organization founded by Noble Drew Ali.

[...]

The Moorish Science Temple of America was incorporated under the Illinois Religious Corporation Act 805 ILCS 110. Timothy Drew, known to its members as Prophet Noble Drew Ali, founded the Moorish Science Temple of America in 1913 in Newark, New Jersey, a booming industrial city. After some difficulties, Ali moved to Chicago, establishing a center there, as well as temples in other major cities. The movement expanded rapidly during the late 1920s. The quick expansion of the Moorish Science Temple arose in large part from the search for identity and context among black Americans at the time of the Great Migration to northern and midwestern cities, as they were becoming an urbanized people.[2]

Competing factions developed among the congregations and leaders, especially after the death of the charismatic Ali. Three independent organizations developed from this ferment. The founding of the Nation of Islam by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930 also created competition for members. In the 1930s membership was estimated at 30,000, with one third in Chicago. During the postwar years, the Moorish Science Temple of America continued to increase in membership, albeit at a slower rate.”...
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Disclaimer: I've never been a member of either the Moorish Science Temple or the Nation of Islam (or its off-shoots). I also have never attended any services of these organizations.

Prior to high school, I don't recall knowing or seeing any Muslims. I only have a cloudy recollection of one African American male named Abdul in my high school (which was the only public high school in Atlantic City and which had 3,000 students when I graduated in 1969). I don't recall any female students wearing hijab, but I believe that there were a few other Muslim students in "my" high school who were members of the same family or were cousins. For what it's worth, I recall that these males were light skinned. I think that they were Sunni Muslims, but I'm not sure about that.

I first became somewhat familiar with the Moorish Science Temple when I moved to East Orange, New Jersey (near Newark, New Jersey) in 1965. I also have known some members of the Moorish Science Temple since I moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1969.

I believe that people who are members of the Moorish Science Temple adopt (or have from birth) a Bey, El, or Ali surname (My experience is that the "El" surname is used with the European biological surname hyphenated, example "Owens-El".

My experience is that some members of the Moorish Science Temple, have Arabic names from birth or were given/selected Arabic names when they joined that organization.

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_of_Islam
"The Nation of Islam, abbreviated NOI, is an African American political and religious movement, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States, by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad on July 4, 1930.[2] Its stated goals are to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African Americans in the United States and all of humanity.[3] Critics have described the organization as being black supremacist[4] and antisemitic.[5][6][7] The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks the NOI as a hate group.[8][9] Its official newspaper is The Final Call. In 2007, the core membership was estimated to be between 20,000 and 50,000.[1]

Fard disappeared in June 1934. His successor Elijah Muhammad established places of worship (called temples or mosques), a school named Muhammad University of Islam, farms, and real estate holdings in the United States and abroad.[10]

...There were a number of splits and splinter groups during Elijah Muhammad's leadership, most notably the departure of senior leader Malcolm X to become a Sunni Muslim. After Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975, his son, Warith Deen Mohammed, changed the name of the organization to "World Community of Islam in the West" (and twice more after that), and attempted to convert it to a mainstream Sunni Muslim ideology.[12]

In 1977, Louis Farrakhan rejected Warith Deen Mohammed's leadership and re-established the Nation of Islam on the original model. He took over the Nation of Islam's headquarters temple, Mosque Maryam (Mosque #2) in Chicago, Illinois."...

I believe that members who followed Warith Deen Mohammed's leadership were/are particularly likely to adopt Arabic names and give those names to their children.

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EARLY BOOKS IN THE UNITED STATES ON AFRICAN/ARABIC NAMES
I'm not aware of any book of African names that was published before The Book of African Names (As Told by Chief Osuntoki) was published in 1970. In 1972 another book of African names was published - Names from Africa: Their Origin, Meaning, and Pronunciation by Ogonna Chuks-orji helped introduce African Americans to names from traditional African languages.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/04/jamaican-names-that-begin-with-ch-or-sh.html for the pancocojams post entitled "Swahili & Igbo Names That Begin With "Sh" or "Ch".

Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/04/jamaican-names-that-begin-with-ch-or-sh.html>A? for the pancocojams post entitled "Jamaican Names That Begin with "Ch" or "Sh".

INFORMATION ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE ARABIC LANGUAGE IN AFRICA

The history of the Arabic language in Africa is the same as the history of the spread of Islam in Africa.

 Here's information about that topic from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Africa:

"Africa was the first continent, outside of Arabia that Islam spread into in the early 7th century. Almost one-third of the world's Muslim population resides in this continent...

Spread of Islam in Africa

On the advice of Muhammad, in Rajab 8BH, or May 614AD, twenty three Muslims migrated to Abyssinia where they were protected by its king, Al-Najashi, who also accepted Islam later. They were followed by 101 Muslims later in the same year. By Muharram 7H, or May 628AD, all those Muslims returned to Medina, but locals who embraced Islam remained there. In 20H/641AD during the reign of Caliph Omar bin al-Khattab, Muslim troops took over current Egypt and conquered current Libya the following year. Muslims then expanded to current Tunisia in 27H/647AD during the reign of the third Muslim Caliph, Othman bin Affan. The conquest of North Africa continued under the Umayyad dynasty, taking Algeria by 61H/680AD, and Morocco the following year. From the latter Muslim troops crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Europe in 711. Islam gained momentum during the tenth century in West Africa with the start of the Almoravids movement on the Senegal River and as rulers and kings embraced Islam.[citation needed] Islam then spread slowly in much of the continent through trade and preaching.[4] By the ninth century Muslim Sultanates started being established in the Horn of Africa, and by the 12th century the Kilwa Sultanate had spread as far south as Mozambique. Islam only crossed deeper into Malawi and Congo in the second half of the nineteenth century under the Zanzibar Sultanate. Then the British brought their labor force from India, including some Muslim Indian nationals, to their African colonies towards the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries."
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That Wikipedia article indicates that "African Islam is not static and is constantly being reshaped by prevalent social, economic, and political conditions. Generally Islam in Africa often adapted to African cultural contexts and belief systems forming Africa's own orthodoxies. [2]"
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Among those African adaptations are examples of certain Arabic derived personal names. For instance, in the Wolof language of Senegal, West Africa "Aminata" is the form of the Arabic female name "Amina" and "Abdou" is the form of the Arabic male name "Abdul".

Also, here's a brief excerpt from https://www.nairaland.com/1811085/top-10-yoruba-names-never "Top 10 Yoruba Names You Never Guessed Were Arabic Names." by idumuose(m): 2:02pm On Jul 13, 2014
"I have always been fascinated by Yoruba people’s creative morphological domestication of Arabic names. There are scores of Yoruba names that are derived from Arabic but which are barely recognizable to Arabs or other African Muslims because they have taken on the structural features of the Yoruba language.

This is not unique to Yoruba, of course. As scholars of onomastics or onomatology know only too well, when proper names leave their primordial shores to other climes they, in time, are often liable to local adaptation.

(Onomastics or onomatology is the scientific study of the origins, forms, conventions, history and uses of proper names. Anthroponomastics specifically studies personal names, so this article is an anthroponamastic analysis of Yoruba Muslim names).

That’s why, for instance, there are many Arabic-derived personal names in Hausa, the most Arabized ethnic group in Nigeria, that would be unrecognizable to Arabs. Names like Mamman (Muhammad), Lawan (Auwal), Shehu (Sheikh), etc. would hardly make much sense to an Arab."...

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