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?
 Common to all mankind
 Self
 Possible associations include:
• Gender
• Family
• Social status
• Generation
• Spirituality or religion
• Region or area
• Heritage / Race
• Wealth
• Occupation
• Caste
 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
 How Many Ways Can
You Spell Mohammed?
 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
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)
 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
Use of Arabic Script
 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
 M-H-M-D
‫محمد‬
 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
 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-………..
 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
 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
Use of Cyrillic Script
 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

 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
 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”
Naming Conventions
 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
 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
 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.
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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.
 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”.
 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.
 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

Comments & Questions?