Persian name
A Persian or Iranian name consists of a given name, sometimes more than one, and a surname.
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[edit] Given names
Since the Islamic conquest of Persia, many names of Persians were derived from Arabic. The Persian Christians had Arabic names indistinguishable to their Muslim neighbors but not exactly Muslim names like Muhammad. They can also use Arabic derivations of Christian names (e.g. saints' names), or Greek, Assyrian, or especially Armenian names. The latter is no surprise because most Christian Iranians are Armenian Iranians.
Many Persian names come from the great Persian literature book, Shahnameh (The Epic of Kings). This great book was composed in the 10th century by Ferdowsi and is considered by many the masterpiece of the Persian literature and is treasured by all Iranians. Approximately 10%-15% of all Persian names are from Shahnameh. A few examples are as follows; Abtin, Ardeshir, Armeen, Arzhang, Babak, Bijan, Bizhan, Bozorgmehr, Darab, Esfandiar, Esfandyar, Faramarz, Farhad, Fariborz, Farshid and Farzad.
[edit] Surnames
Prior to 1919, the people of Persia (Iran) did not use surnames. An act of Vosough od-Dowleh government in 1919 introduced the use of surnames,[1] and the practice expanded during the reign of Reza Shah (r. 1925 - 1941). Prior to that, a person was often distinguished from others by a combination of prefixes and suffixes attached to his name which, if omitted, might cause that person to be taken for someone else.[2]
In many cases an individual was known by the name of the district, city, town, or even the village from which they came by using the locality's name as a suffix, for example: Nuri, Khorasani, Mazandarani, Kordestani, Tehrani, Esfahani, and Shirazi.
Among many other secularization and modernization reforms, surnames were required by Reza Shah, following similar contemporary patterns in Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and later in Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser.[3]
[edit] Most common names
[edit] Male given names
A selection of the most common male given names found in Iran, are as follows:
- Abbas · Abolfazl · Abdollah · Ahmad · Ali · Ali Reza
- Amir · Arash · Ardeshir
- Bijan
- Dariush · Davoud
- Ebrahim · Ehsan · Eskandar · Esmail
- Farhad
- Ghasem
- Habib · Hamed · Hashem · Hassan · Hossein
- Jamshid · Javad
- Kamran · Karim · Kazem · Kourosh
- Mahmoud · Majid · Manuchehr · Masoud · Mehdi
- Meysam · Milad · Mohammad · Mohsen · Mostafa
- Omid
- Qaisar
- Rahman · Rasoul · Reza
- Saeed · Samir · Shahin
- Vahid
- Yaghoub · Yahya · Younes · Yousef
- Zakaria
[edit] Female given names
A selection of the most common female given names found in Iran, are as follows:
- Anousheh · Astar · Azadeh
- Farnaz · Farzaneh · Fatemeh · Fereshteh
- Jaleh
- Laleh · Leila
- Mahshid · Maryam · Mina
- Nasrin · Nazanin · Niloufar
- Parvin
- Reyhan · Roksaneh · Roya
- Sara · Simin
- Taraneh
- Yasmin
- Zahra · Zaynab
[edit] Surnames
A selection of the most common surnames found in Iran, are as follows:
- Abbasi · Akbari · Alizadeh
- Ebrahimi · Esfahani
- Ghorbani
- Hosseini
- Jafari · Jamshidi
- Kazemi · Khadem · Khorasani
- Mazandarani · Mohammadi · Mokri
- Pahlavi · Paria
- Rahimi · Rezaei
- Salehi · Shirazi
- Tehrani
[edit] Name terminology
[edit] Honorifics
- Aga Khan, hereditary title of the Imam of the Nizari Muslims of the Ismaili followers of the Shī‘a sect of Islam, the great imam of Shi`a Islam. As a suffix, it indicates his children, grandchildren, and/or grandchildren
- Mullah, Muslim cleric. The title has also been used in some Jewish communities to refer to the community's leadership, especially religious leadership.
- Aqa, Sir, mister. General term of respect
- Ayatollah, high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics
- Darvish, a Sufi mystic or a spiritual Guru
- Khan, served at one time as a title for an honored person
- Ostad, a master craftsperson, lecturer or a person who is the master of a profession.
- Seyed, Sharif, honorific titles that are given to males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
- Shah, king of Persia
[edit] Prefixes
- Haji, one who had made the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca
- Jenaab, excellency
- Karbala'i, one who has made the pilgrimage to Karbala, as a suffix, one from Karbala
- Mashhadi, one who has made the pilgrimage to Mashad, as a suffix, one from Mashad, often shortened to Mashti, or Mash
- Mir, generally indicates seyed and/or royal descent
[edit] Suffixes
- -i, the most common suffix used for Persian surnames. These surnames are in fact adjectives created by the adding suffix "-i" to person names, location names or other nones. Surnames with "-i" are also popular in other countries of historic Greater Persia and neighboring countries like India, Pakistan, Iraq, Caucasus, Central Asia and Xinjiang.
- -ian, similar to above case but with the addition of the plural suffix "-an". Examples are Babayan and Shahinian. Surnames with this double suffix are popular among Persians and Armenians.
- -an, similar to English "-s" in "Roberts"
- -pour, "son of"
- -zadeh, -zada, -zoda, zad, zod, "decedent of"
- -nezhad, -nejad, " of race/clan"
- -nia, "from the ancestor"
- -far, "the light of"
- -bakhsh, "granted by"
- -dad, "given by"
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ احمد کسروی، تاریخ 18 ساله آذربایجان
- ^ Salmani, Ustad Muhammad-`Aliy-i, the Barber; Gail, Marizieh (tr.) (1982). My Memories of Bahá'u'lláh. Los Angeles, USA: Kalimát Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-933770-21-9.
- ^ Tehranian, Majid (August 1–5, 2000). "Disenchanted Worlds: Seculartization and Democratization in the Middle East". Paper for Presentation at the World Congress of International Political Science Association. Archived from the original on 2006-09-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20060912101324/http://www2.hawaii.edu/~majid/draft_papers/secularization/secularization.html. Retrieved 2006-09-28.
[edit] External links
- Iranian Names
- Behind the Name: Iranian Names
- List of modern given names in Iran
- Persian/Iranian Names
- Persian Names
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