Abu Mazaf or Mahmoud Abbas

[no1tovote4]

I just learned an interesting thing I did not know about Palestinian culture. The reason they have two names like this is because of a cultural norm. It is a sign of respect to call the father of a boy Abu then the boy's name. If I had a son named David my name would be Abu David.

I thought they were names used as psuedonyms in order to confuse. I was wrong.

Did anybody else know this and was I the only ignorant one?

 

[DaTroof]

Your name would be Abu Daud and it's not just in Arab cultures. In Hebrew for example David Ben Gurion meens David son of Gurion. In Scandinavia, especially Sweden they do the same Anderson meens son of Ander. So it's actually quite a prolific practice. Here in the States we just call you Junior.

 

[dilloduck]

Your name would be Abu Daud and it's not just in Arab cultures. In Hebrew for example David Ben Gurion meens David son of Gurion. In Scandinavia, especially Sweden they do the same Anderson meens son of Ander. So it's actually quite a prolific practice. Here in the States we just call you Junior.

Thats true---try to trace back a Swedish family tree sometime---you'll start to wonder if your even related to yourself.

 

[no1tovote4]

Your name would be Abu Daud and it's not just in Arab cultures. In Hebrew for example David Ben Gurion meens David son of Gurion. In Scandinavia, especially Sweden they do the same Anderson meens son of Ander. So it's actually quite a prolific practice. Here in the States we just call you Junior.

In the States we call the father Sr if they have the same name. In this culture the Father is named after the son when they are born regardless of a name difference. Abu David was an example. My birth name may have been Muhammed Ali but when I have a son it depends on what I name the son.

While this is the same in many cultures the position I was taking was I actually thought they used different names for their position in their Terrorist organisations. On the news they don't explain how this works either so I remained in ignorance until a Jewish guy on talk radio explained it to me. He said his son's name is Daniel (pronounced Daneel) and when he met with Palestinian leaders as a sign of respect they called him Abu Daniel.

Oh well it appears that I was the only one steeped in this ignorance.

 

[freeandfun1]

I am probably wrong, but if I recall correctly, a Muslim friend/business associate in Malaysia once told me that you can't be called Mohamed until you reach a certain level of understanding of Islam. Again, I might be mistaken in my recollection, so I am just wondering if anybody out there knows....

 

[Zhukov]

Any last name you've ever heard that ended in 'vich', like Malkovich of Jovovich, means 'son of', and is derived from the tradition of patronymics used in Russia and other eastern European countries.

Malkovich means son of Malko, or Malcolm.

Ivanovich, son of Ivan, or John.

In public Pres. Putin is not refered to as Vladimir Putin; he is refered to as (and even reporters call him this) Valdimir Vladimirovich, or son of Vladimir. That is their custom.

Being referred to as the father of your son is interesting though. I don't know of any other culture that does that.

 

[freeandfun1]

Any last name you've ever heard that ended in 'vich', like Malkovich of Jovovich, means 'son of', and is derived from the tradition of patronymics used in Russia and other eastern European countries.

Malkovich means son of Malko, or Malcolm.

Ivanovich, son of Ivan, or John.

In public Pres. Putin is not refered to as Vladimir Putin; he is refered to as (and even reporters call him this) Valdimir Vladimirovich, or son of Vladimir. That is their custom.

Being referred to as the father of your son is interesting though. I don't know of any other cultures that does that.

In Korea they will often refer to the parents as the parents of....

For example, my niece is So-Hyun. Most people call her mother So-Hyun uhm-ma. Which means, mother of So-Hyun.

 

[no1tovote4]

Being referred to as the father of your son is interesting though. I don't know of any other culture that does that.

Good so I wasn't the only one that didn't know about this practice. I also thought it was interesting.

Also add ovna, evna. That is the female version of the Patronimic name in Slavic Countries. Vladimirovna would be the female version of the Vladimirovich name. Yurevich would be your Patronimic if your father's name was Yuri, Yurevna if you were a female whose father was named Yuri.