Naming Conventions – or – How Many Ways Can You Spell Mohammed?

1. Naming Conventions – or – How Many Ways Can You Spell Mohammed? Office of International Programs University of Kansas Medical Center

2. Who We Are Julia Shaw, Associate Director, International Programs University of Kansas Medical Center Kerry Allen, Sr Coordinator Academic English and Cultural Studies University of Kansas Medical Center

3. What is in a Name? • Common to all mankind • Self • Possible associations include: • Gender • Family • Social status • Generation • Spirituality or religion • Region or area • Heritage / Race • Wealth • Occupation • Caste

4. What Do These Names Say to You? • Bobbi Sue Taylor • Floyd and Iris Miller • Reggie White • Olga Johansen • Salvatore “Sal” Falco • David Levi Solomon • Basil Thibodeau • Tiffany Hart • Miguel Garcia • Mohammed Shirazi

5. How Many Ways Can You Spell Mohammed?

6. Transcription & Transliteration • The “translation” from one writing form to another. • Transcription is a more phonetic interpretation • Transliteration represents the letters exactly • Why transcription instead of transliteration? • Some English vowel sounds don’t exist in the other language and vice-versa • Some English consonant sounds don’t exist in the other language and vice-versa • Some languages are not written with letters

7. Issues Related to Transliteration & Transcription • Lack of consistent rules for some languages or varying sets of rules • Country variations in choice of rules • Country/regional variations in pronunciation • Same name may be transcribed differently even within the same family • More confusing when common or religious names cross over several countries with different scripts (Islam - Mohammed)

8. Arabic Transcription • There are three letters with vowel sounds – a, i, u. • Short vowel sounds are not written. • The letter “hamza” is a glottal stop, it has no sound and is not pronounced • Consonant sounds not found in English include “kh” and “q or gh” • Arabic is written from right to left

9. Use of Arabic Script

10. Use of Arabic Script • Middle East and Central Asia • Kurdish and Turkmen in Iraq • Farsi (Persian) and Baluchi in Iran • Dari, Pashto and Uzbek in Afghanistan • Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz in northwest China • South Asia • Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Kashmiri and Balochi in Pakistan • Urdu and Kashmiri in India • Southeast Asia • Malay in Burnei • Malaysia, Indonesia, southern Thailand, Singapore and the Phillipines for religious purposes • Africa • Bedawi or Beja in Sudan • Hausa in Nigeria • Tamazight and other Berber languages

11. محمد • M-H-M-D • Vowels and their pronunciation depend on region • D and T interchangeable and depend on region • Middle “M” sometimes repeated when transcribed • How do you spell ……? • Mehmed • Mahomet • Mahmed • Mahmud • Muhammed • Mohammed • Mohammet

12. Gadhafi • Common spellings of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's name: • Qaddafi • Qatafi • Quathafi • Kadafi • Kaddafi • Khadaffi • Gadhafi • Gaddafi • Ghadafy • All names listed above with al-………..

13. Cyrillic Script • The Cyrillic alphabet is actually a family of alphabets, subsets of which are used principally in Slavic, but also other, languages. • Not all letters are used in every language this is written with it. • Common spelling variations in names occur with the sounds/letters: • Y – J – I • Gh – G – H • Zh - J

14. Cyrillic to Latin Alphabet • After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 some countries transitioned to the Latin alphabet • Uzbekistan • Azerbajian • Turkmenistan • In other countries the Cyrillic alphabet is also written in the Latin alphabet • Serbia • Croatia • Bulgaria • Belarus • Bosnia

15. Use of Cyrillic Script

16. Chinese Languages Transcription • The major Chinese languages (Mandarin & Cantonese) are based on images and syllables, known as monosyllabic logograms, rather than individual letters • There is no Chinese alphabet • Pinyin style is the type of transcription used in mainland China • Wade-Giles is the type of transcription used in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. • Uses hyphens between syllables • Wang Mao-hsin or Liu Mei-lai

17. Transliteration of Chinese Names • Names of the World’s Peoples: A Comprehensive Dictionary of Names in Roman –Chinese • Complied by the Proper Names and Translation Service of the Xinhua New Agency • Based on Mandarin • Provides standardization of names

18. Japanese Transcription • The Japanese language is expressed through characters and uses more than one writing system • Kanji – Chinese characters • Hiragana – Japanese writing form used when Kanji characters don’t exist; curvy letters • Katakana – Used to write “foreign” names and words and names of other countries; sharper more square like-letters 私はトムを知っている • Any name may have several written forms • A name written in kanji may have more than one common pronunciation. For example, Nakata and Nakada have the same kanji -中田 • 小野 洋子 Ono Yōko may be written in English as Yooko, Youko or Yoko. Her name is pronounced “Yoko” not “Yooko”

19. Naming Conventions

20. Definitions • Given name • Personal name • American “first name” • Name a person calls oneself • Christian name • Second name • American “middle name” • Surname • American “last name” • Family name • Name typically associated with the family but this can vary by country • In this presentation we provide examples of the naming practice by using American names

21. US and Europe Naming • Susan Elizabeth Jones • Given name Second name Surname • Second or middle names more common in US • Women typically take husband’s family name upon marriage • Some women drop maiden family name and replace with husband’s family name • Some women drop second name, and use the maiden name as the second name ( Hilary Rodham Clinton) • Some women choose to keep their maiden name or hyphenate the maiden and married surnames • In Eastern Europe and Russia: • Women take husband’s surname, however it carries a feminine ending • Example: Trotsky becomes Trotskya, Davidov becomes Davidova • Names ending in –ski or –owicz are typically Polish • Names ending in –sky are Russian, Ukrainian, Czech or Slovak

22. Hispanic Naming • Susan Elizabeth Jones Brown • Given name second name father’s family name mother’s family name • Hispanic names consist of both the paternal and maternal family names • If you wanted to Americanize the name it would be Susan Elizabeth Jones • What may appear as a given name and a second name, may actually be the given name. Example: Luis Miguel, Juan Carlos, Luz Maria • Nicknames are very common in Mexican culture. Some people are known to others only by their nicknames.

23. Hispanic Naming (cont’d) • Susan Elizabeth Jones Brown • Given name second name father’s family name mother’s family name • Women traditionally retain their names after marriage. In some areas the women might add her husband’s family name to her own. There are regional variations • Example: Susan marries Juan Garcia Chavez. She may change her name to: • Susan Elizabeth Jones Brown de Garcia • Susan Elizabeth Jones de Garcia • Susan Elizabeth Jones Sra. de Garcia • Children’s names will differ from both the parents. • Susan Jones Brown and Juan Garcia Chavez’s children might be named: • Jose Garcia Jones • Marcia Garcia Jones

24. Brazil & Portugal Naming • Susan Elizabeth Brown de Jones • Given name second name mother’s family name father’s family name • Like Hispanic names, consists of both the paternal and maternal family names, however in a different order • A preposition of: de, del or de la is common prior to the father’s family name • If you wanted to Americanize the name it would be Susan Elizabeth Jones

25. Filipino Naming • Susan Brown Jones • Given name mother’s family name father’s family name • Hispanic influence in many names, but do not follow Hispanic naming conventions • Second name is mother’s family name • When a woman marries, father’s family name becomes middle name and husband’s family’s name becomes last name • Susan Brown Jones marries Joe Smith. She drops the Brown and becomes Susan Jones Smith

26. East Asian Naming • In many east Asian cultures the family name or surname is first in the naming order • Japan • China • Korea • Vietnam • Laos • Hmong • Cambodia

27. Vietnamese Naming • Jones Elizabeth Susan • surname second name given name • Vietnamese names are written in an order opposite of western names • There are reportedly no more than 300 family names with the most common being Nguyen (pronounced similar to “win”). Other family names include: Tran, Le, Vu, Vo, Huynh, Pham, Ngo, Troung, Doan, Trinh, Dang, Bui, Lam • Many Vietnamese names are related to Chinese clans or family names • The second name identifies the gender of an individual. The second name may remain the same for all male members of the family • Common middle names for men are Van, Huu, Duc, Dinh, Xuan, Ngoc, Quang, Cong • Women retain their names after marriage

28. Chinese Naming • Jones Susan • surname given name • The order is “reversed” with surname first then the given name • Li, Wang, and Zhang are the most common Chinese family names. Most family names are only one syllable long • A family’s hopes are often reflected in a child’s given name. Zhifu (getting rich), Xinghau (rejuvenate China) • Men’s names typically imply honor to ancestry, militaristic bearing or virility, such as Gang (steel) Jinsong (sturdy pine), Ren Youcheng (accomplishment) • Women’s names include words related to beauty, jewelry, flowers or birds, such as Hua (flower), Yan (beautiful), Mei (enchanting) • Women retain their names after marriage

29. Korean Naming • Park Susan-Elizabeth • surname given name • Korean names consist of a surname followed by a given name. • Only about 250 Korean family names are in use. Almost 50% of Koreans have the family name of Kim, Park or Lee • Lee and Yi are the same name in written Korean • The surname is usually one syllable and the given name is usually a two-part hyphenated name • Koreans have no middle names. You may see two names written together or hyphenated and these represent the given name • Women keep their names following marriage

30. Japanese Naming • Jones Susan • surname given name • In Japanese names, the surname is first and then the given name. There are no middle names • Most names are written in Kanji with a variety of possible pronunciations • Suzuki, Takahashi and Katō are common surnames. There are as many as 100,000 surnames in use in Japan and their usage varies by region. The Japanese government regulates names written in Kanji. Only Kanji which appear on the government list (about 2,230) may be used in given names • The Japanese usually address someone by his or her surname followed by “–san” or often refer to someone by his or her title rather than name (sensei, sacho, etc.) • Male given names often end in –ro (son) or –ta (great) or –ichi (first) • Female given names often end in –ko (child) or –mi (beauty) • Women do adopt the husband’s surname after marriage

31. India Naming • Indian names are based on a variety of systems and naming conventions, which vary greatly region by region • Names are influenced by religion, caste and occupation as well as other cultural influences • British • Portuguese • Caste names include: Nair, Reddy, Patel, Gandhi

32. India Naming – Religious Influence • Sikh names often use Singh as the surname or as a suffix to the surname; however, Singh is a clan name and, therefore, not used exclusively by Sikhs • Jains often use the surname of Jain. Like Singh this is a surname used by other Indians as well • Most Hindu names consist of a given name, possibly a second name, and a family based surname. The second name may be the father’s given name • Indians of the Christian faith follow British naming conventions • Indians of the Moslem faith follow conventions similar to Arabic naming conventions

33. Southern India Naming • Chicago Robert ____ Paul • Region or village father’s given name given name • In the southern states of India (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala), naming conventions are not consistent and vary considerably by region • Typically there is no “family” name • The names are often abbreviated, with the exception of the given name • Example: C. R. Paul • Women take the husband’s given name after marriage, and it replaces the father’s given name • Women use initials also. However, before marriage they use the father’s initials with her given name. After marriage she uses her husband’s initials with her given name

34. Arabic Naming • Susan Jones • Given name Surname • Naming conventions vary region by region and by religion (Moslem, Jewish, Christian) • The use of honorific, patronymic, and tribal names is common • Abu Karim Muhammad al-Jamil ibn Nidal ibn Abdulaziz al-Filastini • Father of Karim, Muhammed, the beautiful, son of Nidal, son of Abdulaziz, the Palestinian. • The use of titles is common– al Haji • “Al” or “El”, a common prefix to family names, may be used in the name or may be dropped • Masculine given names are often feminized by adding an –a ending • Sohail becomes Sohaila • Arabs often adopt Western conventions when traveling or living in Western countries. Constructing a first name/surname model from their full Arab name. • Farsi, Dari and other languages share Arabic script but are not Arab languages. Naming conventions are different then Arabic.

35. African Naming • Naming practices vary greatly based on religion, tribal or ethnic group, and region • Christian and Moslem naming practices can be seen • Children may have a tribal name and a Christian name • Names for children may include the day they were born, especially if it was a holiday or celebration day • Children are often named after relatives, tribal elders, legendary gods or respected persons. Children may also be named after aspirations or values such as “Joy” or “Justice”.

36. African Naming (cont’d) • In Ghana, the surname is not the same for all persons in a family. Each child may have a different surname. • For Akan speakers in Ghana, a naming ceremony is held seven days after birth. The father chooses the name of a respected relative for the child. • In Nigeria, in the Yoruba community, babies are given a name which describes the day of their birth, “born in the rainy time”. Later the child is give a praise name which expresses hopes for their future. Dunsimi means “don’t die before me”. Titilayo means “eternal happiness”. • The Urhobo community in Nigeria, believe that a child lives up to the the meaning of their name. Many names therefore have a spiritual or religious significance. Eseoghene or Ese means “God’s gift”. Efemini of Efe means “Let’s see how wealthy you can be.” Typically grandparents receive the honor of naming the new child. • In Kenya, to Swahili speakers, the babies first or birth name refers to the child’s appearance. Later, up to 40 days after the birth, a name is chosen for the child by his parents and paternal grandparents.

37. Welcome to the US! • Names are often misspelled or mispronounced • The accent marks, tilde, or umlauts are often lost • The order of one’s name may be reversed • Many change the order of their names to conform with American naming conventions • Many adopt American nicknames

38. For more information • This presentation was constructed as an introduction to naming conventions or practices • You can find much more detailed information regarding these various practices

39. Comments & Questions?