My uncle is married to a black american woman and she told me its very common for black people to be named Arab names like : Omar, Sherif, Sherifa, Malika, Latifah, Aisha, Aaliyah, Shakir, Khalifa etc.
Is there something historically tying this all together or is it just that the names sound pretty?
I'm not educated on this topic but I know Islam and arab culture had HUGE impact in Africa. I'm sure some of it found its way into the afro-american communities.
I'm not educated on this topic but I know Islam and arab culture had HUGE impact in Africa. I'm sure some of it found its way into the afro-american communities.
This. Arab supremacy had an impact on the last few generations of Africans and immigration caused the names to emerge into the black American community.
Islamic names became popular in Black American culture in the 50s/60s with the rise of the Nation of Islam. A lot of Black people that converted gave up their "slave" names and gave themselves muslim names and there were others that just heard them and found them beautiful. The influence was there from civil rights leaders like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali etc.
Islamic names became popular in Black American culture in the 50s/60s with the rise of the Nation of Islam.
Not to mention Islam has been in Africa for like 1000 years. And Arab and Africans traded all the time even in Ancient times, and ever heard of the moors?
In the 1960s many African-American civil rights activists adopted aspects of Islam, both mainstream and the syncretic Nation of Islam. The adoption of Arabic names to replace European names here was partly a religious statement and partly a rejection of names associated with their own ancestors' personal experience with European slavery.
Many of these names ended up influencing naming trends within the wider African-American culture, so that names such as Aisha, Aaliyah, Jamal, etc are now common among African-Americans without being thought of as explicitly Arab or Muslim.
My uncle is married to a black american woman and she told me its very common for black people to be named Arab names like : Omar, Sherif, Sherifa, Malika, Latifah, Aisha, Aaliyah, Shakir, Khalifa etc.
Is there something historically tying this all together or is it just that the names sound pretty?
My brother has a Arab name Baraka Ali I think it's cause my dad was a Muslim at the time. The rest of us have weird names my brother is Fennell older sister Johwanna and me and my twin sis as Prince and Princess. Weird batch of names.
Not to mention Islam has been in Africa for like 1000 years. And Arab and Africans traded all the time even in Ancient times, and ever heard of the moors?
That too which is a lot of the reason why NOI was so appealing to so many Black people; especially during the Civil Rights Movement. Shedding slave assigned names/culture and trying to get ties back to Africa in spiritual ways and then there are many that just found the names to be beautiful -- and many of them are extremely beautiful with strong meanings.
A lot of Black people that converted gave up their "slave" names and gave themselves muslim names and there were others that just heard them and found them beautiful. The influence was there from civil rights leaders like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali etc.