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Document Details : Title: Personal names in Palestine and Jordan, 1850-1996 Author(s): KAYED, I.M. , LANCE, D.M. Journal: Onoma Volume: 36 Date: 2001 Pages: 25-48 DOI: 10.2143/ONO.36.0.563275 Abstract : The choice of personal names tends to reflect not only general cultural patterns but also political pressures experienced by families who are choosing names for their children. This study examines names collected in 1999 from 77 Jordanians living in Amman, Zarqa, and Irbid and 64 Palestinians living in these three cities. Because paternal fathers’ and grandfathers’ given names are used as second and third names of males and females in Muslim traditions in the Middle East, the data set consists of given names of 142 male and 18 female Jordanians and given names of 137 male and 21 female Palestinians, with years of birth ranging from the 1850s to 1996. The data were divided into seven time periods based on historical events in Palestine, Jordan, and Israel. Analyses of the data indicate that Arab parents tend to choose religious or nationalistic names for their children more often when political tensions are high than when tensions are relatively low. In this study and in others cited, there are fewer religious names for Arab females than for males and proportionately fewer females than males who have religious names. This article includes lists of names with English translations and comparisons with findings of other studies. |
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