Punctuation of Arabic Names

al-	Literal meaning: the	Examples: al-Mirghani (sted Al Mirghani) al-Ahram (sted Al Ahram), al-Maghrebi (sted Almaghrebi), Dar-es-Salaam (sted Dar Es Salaam) Excepted: Assad (sted al-Assad), Sadat (sted al-Sadat)
	Style: lower case, with hyphen
	German phonetic "El" makes an English "al-"
	Variants: el- (Egyptian names), ul- (High Arabic), as-, az-, ach-, ad-, adh-, an-, at-, ar-

Abdul-	Literal meaning of the underlying form Abed: worshipper of ...	Examples: Abdel-Halim (sted Abdelhalim), Abdul-Aziz (sted Abd al-Aziz) Excepted: Malay names like Tunku Abdul Rahman
	Style: capital A, with hyphen
	Variants: Abdel-, Abdur-, Abdes-
Abu-	Literal meaning: father of ...	Examples: Abu-Musa (sted: Abou-Mousa), Abu-Jihad (sted Abu Jihad), Abu-Nidal (sted Abu Nidal), Abal-Kheil (sted Aba al-Kheil), Abul-Abbas (sted Abu-Abbas) Excepted: Place name Abu Dhabi
	Style: capital A, with hyphen
	French phonetic "Abou" makes English "Abu-"
	Variants: Abal-, Abuld
bin	Literal meaning: son of ...	Examples: Fahd bin Abdul-Aziz, Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan Excepted: Capital B and hyphen in Tunisian President Ben-Ali
	Style: lower case, followed by space
	Variants: ben, ibn, ibni
General	Alter any French transliterations of Arab names which crop up in items from Algeria, Tunisia and sometimes Morocco, Syria and Lebanon: i.e. change ou to u (Faruk not Farouk), ch to sh (sheikh not "cheik") and delete any silent e at the end (Hussein not "Hocine"). Also: Anwar not "Anouar". Exception: President Zine al-Abidine Ben-Ali of Tunisia. Second Reference: An Arab person's family name is the last name and this is the one to use on second reference. Royal family members should however be differentiated on second reference by using their first names, e.g. Saudi Defence Minister Prince Sultan or Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Saad.

Style Guide Home | Index of Key Words | More Examples