Naming Conventions – or –
How Many Ways Can You
Spell Mohammed?
Office of International Programs
University of Kansas Medical Center
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
What is in a Name?
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Common to all mankind
Self
Possible associations include:
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Gender
Family
Social status
Generation
Spirituality or religion
Region or area
Heritage / Race
Wealth
Occupation
Caste
What Do These Names
Say to You?
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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
How Many Ways Can
You Spell Mohammed?
Transcription & Transliteration
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The “translation” from one writing form to
another.
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Transcription is a more phonetic interpretation
Transliteration represents the letters exactly
Why transcription instead of transliteration?
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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
Issues Related to Transliteration &
Transcription
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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)
Arabic Transcription
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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
Use of Arabic Script
Use of Arabic Script
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Middle East and Central Asia
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South Asia
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Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Kashmiri and Balochi in Pakistan
Urdu and Kashmiri in India
Southeast Asia
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Kurdish and Turkmen in Iraq
Farsi (Persian) and Baluchi in Iran
Dari, Pashto and Uzbek in Afghanistan
Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz in northwest China
Malay in Burnei
Malaysia, Indonesia, southern Thailand, Singapore and the Phillipines
for religious purposes
Africa
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Bedawi or Beja in Sudan
Hausa in Nigeria
Tamazight and other Berber languages
‫محمد‬
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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 ……?
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Mehmed
Mahomet
Mahmed
Mahmud
Muhammed
Mohammed
Mohammet
Gadhafi
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Common spellings of Libyan leader Moammar
Gadhafi's name:
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Qaddafi
Qatafi
Quathafi
Kadafi
Kaddafi
Khadaffi
Gadhafi
Gaddafi
Ghadafy
All names listed above with al-………..
Cyrillic Script
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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
Cyrillic to Latin Alphabet
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After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 some
countries transitioned to the Latin alphabet
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Uzbekistan
Azerbajian
Turkmenistan
In other countries the Cyrillic alphabet is also written in
the Latin alphabet
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Serbia
Croatia
Bulgaria
Belarus
Bosnia
Use of Cyrillic Script
Chinese Languages Transcription
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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
Transliteration of Chinese Names
 Names
of the World’s Peoples: A
Comprehensive Dictionary of Names in
Roman –Chinese
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Complied by the Proper Names and
Translation Service of the Xinhua New
Agency
Based on Mandarin
Provides standardization of names
Japanese Transcription
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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”
Naming Conventions
Definitions
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Given name
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Second name
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American “middle name”
Surname
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Personal name
American “first name”
Name a person calls oneself
Christian name
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
US and Europe Naming
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Susan
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Given name
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Second or middle names more common in US
Women typically take husband’s family name upon marriage
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Elizabeth
Second name
Jones
Surname
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:
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Women take husband’s surname, however it carries a feminine ending
• Example: Trotsky becomes Trotskya, Davidov becomes Davidova
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Names ending in –ski or –owicz are typically Polish
Names ending in –sky are Russian, Ukrainian, Czech or Slovak
Hispanic Naming
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Susan
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Given name second name
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Hispanic names consist of both the paternal and maternal
family names
If you wanted to Americanize the name it would be
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Elizabeth
Jones
father’s family name
Brown
mother’s family name
Susan Elizabeth Jones
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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.
Hispanic Naming (cont’d)
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Susan
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Given name second name father’s family name mother’s family name
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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.
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Elizabeth
Jones
Brown
Susan Jones Brown and Juan Garcia Chavez’s children might be
named:
• Jose Garcia Jones
• Marcia Garcia Jones
Brazil & Portugal Naming
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Susan
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Given name second name
Elizabeth
Brown
mother’s family name
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de Jones
father’s family name
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
Filipino Naming
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Susan
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Given name
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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
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Brown
mother’s family name
Jones
father’s family name
East Asian Naming
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In many east Asian cultures the family name or
surname is first in the naming order
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Japan
China
Korea
Vietnam
Laos
Hmong
Cambodia
Vietnamese Naming
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Jones
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surname
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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
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Elizabeth
second name
Susan
given name
Chinese Naming
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Jones
Susan
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surname
given name
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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
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Korean Naming
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Park
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surname
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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
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Susan-Elizabeth
given name
Japanese Naming
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Jones
Susan
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surname
given name
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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
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India Naming
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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
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British
Portuguese
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names include: Nair, Reddy, Patel,
Gandhi
India Naming – Religious Influence
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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
Southern India Naming
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Chicago
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Region or village
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Robert
father’s given name
____ Paul
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
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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
Arabic Naming
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Susan
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Given name
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Naming conventions vary region by region and by religion (Moslem,
Jewish, Christian)
The use of honorific, patronymic, and tribal names is common
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Surname
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
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Jones
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.
African Naming
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Naming practices vary greatly based on religion, tribal or
ethnic group, and region
Christian and Moslem naming practices can be seen
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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”.
African Naming (cont’d)
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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.
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
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
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Comments & Questions?