Prior to the reign of Reza Shah (r. 1925 - 1941), the people of Persia (Iran) did not use surnames. A person was often distinguished from others by a combination of prefixes and suffixes attached to his name which, if omitted, might cause him to be taken for someone else.[1]
In many cases an individual was known by the name of the district, city, town, or even the village from which they came by using the locality's name as a suffix, for example: Nuri, Khorasani, Mazandarani, Tehrani, Esfahani, and Shirazi.
Structure of Persian name
Because of Islamic conquest of Persia, most names of Persians are derived from Arabic, but some people use names in their own language. For the Persian Christians, they have Arabic names indistinguishable to their Muslim neighbors but not exactly Muslim names like Muhammad. They use Persian versions of Arabic origin of Biblical names as Persian translations of Christian names, as most Christian names are Indo-European words, like Persian. They use Arabic derivations of Christian names (e.g. saints' names), and names of Greek, Assyrian, or especially Armenian origin, the latter is correct as most Christian Iranians are Armenian Iranians. All of these names are used by Afghans, Hazaras, and Tajiks who also speak Persian.
Honorifics, Prefixes & Suffixes
- -abad - place of abode
- Aqa آقا - Sir, mister. General term of respect.
- Aga Khan آقا خان - As a prefix, hereditary title of the Imam of the Nizārī Muslims of the Ismā'īlī followers (Arabic: الطائفة الإسماعيلية) of the Shī‘a sect of Islam, the great imam of Shi`a Islam. As a suffix, it indicates his children, grandchildren, and/or grandchildren.
- Ayatollah آيتال - high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics.
- Darvish درويش - A Sufi mystic or a spiritual Guru (Dervish).
- Haji حاجى - As a prefix, one who had made the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
- -i/-y,-ian - of; the latter is often used by Armenian-Iranians, but many Persian Iranians use it as well.
- Jenaab - As a prefix, excellency.
- Karbala'i كربلايى - As a prefix, one who has made the pilgrimage to Karbala. As a suffix, one from Karbala.
- Khan خان - As a suffix, served at one time as a title for an honored person.
- Mashhadi مشهدى - As a prefix, one who has made the pilgrimage to Mashad. As a suffix, one from Mashad. Often shortened to مش (Mash).
- Mir میر - As a prefix generally indicates seyed and/or royal descent.
- Mirza ميرزا - Shortened version of "Amir Zade." As a prefix, a general term of respect which usually indicates that the one designated is literate. As a suffix, it indicates a man of royal descent.
- Mullah ملا - A Muslim cleric.
- Ostad استاد - A master craftsman, lecturer or a person who is the master of a profession.
- -pur, -zad - Suffixes for "son (of)."
- Seyed, Sharif - honorific titles that are given to males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
- Shah - king of Persia
Final days
Among many other secularization and modernization reforms, surnames were required by Reza Shah, following similar contemporary patterns in Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and later in Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser.[2]
Persian Names and Their European Equivalent
Other Names
References
- ^ Salmani, Ustad Muhammad-`Aliy-i, the Barber; Gail, Marizieh (tr.) (1982). My Memories of Bahá'u'lláh. Los Angeles, USA: Kalimát Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-933770-21-9.
- ^ Tehranian, Majid (August 1-5, 2000). "Disenchanted Worlds: Seculartization and Democratization in the Middle East". Paper for Presentation at the World Congress of International Political Science Association. http://www2.hawaii.edu/~majid/draft_papers/secularization/secularization.html. Retrieved 2006-09-28.
External links
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