Frequency: (714)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Muslim (widespread throughout the Muslim world): from the Arabic personal name ῾Abbās, literally ‘stern’, ‘austere’. ῾Abbās was the name of an uncle (died 652) of the Prophet Muhammad, the ancestor of the Abbasid dynasty (see Abbasi).
2. German: Latinized form of Abt‘abbot’.
GIVEN NAMES: Muslim 54%. Syed (26), Ghulam (12), Ali (8), Mohammad (7), Mohammed (7), Mohamed (6), Farhat (5), Abbas (4), Asad (4), Azhar (4), Ahmad (3), Amir (3).
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
