Whatever happened to these Somali names for girls?

[abdisamad3]

Twist its kinda of hard to stick to my guns after seeing her giving birth to my kid and all the pain she had to go through while I was just chilling outside the birth room in the hospital that kind of made me give in for her wishes

[Twist]

Twist its kinda of hard to stick to my guns after seeing her giving birth to my kid and all the pain she had to go through while I was just chilling outside the birth room in the hospital that kind of made me give in for her wishes

Hmm, you have a point there.

[Avicenna]

@abdisamad: You should have stuck to your guns and call your daughter Batuulo.

Category 1

Batuulo
Xabiibo
Khadiijo
Maano
Madiino
Nadiifo
Muumino etc

Category 2

Suleeqo
Sureero (or Sureer)
Falis
Fowsiyo
Fardowsa (or Firdows)
Sagal
Suuban
Saxarla etc

2nd category waaye my generation. I remember in the late 80s, a lot of Ikraams, Amals and Imans popped up.

It was like a competition for mothers to come up with the trendiest names.

Not sure if everyone understands, but in the late 80s, people got busy with frivolous and trivial things and everything became a competition e.g. cars, neighborhoods, hang-out spots, even bakeries.


Firefly - I've heard of shmaak, I think its one of the difficult to pronounce Arab names I was talking about.

[Avicenna]

Seem - Ruumaan is a fruit, but that's what they chose to call her. :

On reflection I posted one called Canab,markaa maxaan ulla yaabiba sxb

@ Bakistan though

Bakistaan was my homegirl. We used to get in to all sorts of trouble with macalinka. No clue what happened to her, ninyo.

There was Hinda who was naturally of course Bakistaan's mortal enemy. It was tough being friends with both of them.

[Goljano Lion]

Growing up, most of my neighbors, friends and female relatives had the following names, but lately all I see are knock-off Arab names for little girls, what gives?

Names like:

-Suuban (niece), Abyan, Amran, Filsan (cousin), Ruun (neighbor), Kiin (young aunt), Ugaaso, Falis, Ruumaan (3rd grade classmate), Xukun, Sagal, Ayaan (never liked this name, but it beats "Sowdah" i.e. "dark one"), Siman, etc.

Must we Arabize every aspect of our culture in order to become "more" Muslim? Most of today's names for little Somali girls are Arab names that pre-date Islam, even Amina, Halima & Aisha are pre-Islamic in origin, so why not continue on the tradition of naming our daughters beautiful & positive Somali names?

the one`s i highlighted never heard of them

[Avicenna]

GL - I guess your crowd ain't my kinda crowd, sxb.

With the exception of the last one, the other 3 are 100% Somali and chances are if you saw a girl with either of those names, she'd be a dime and an 80s baby.

[Goljano Lion]

GL - I guess your crowd ain't my kinda crowd, sxb.

With the exception of the last one, the other 3 are 100% Somali and chances are if you saw a girl with either of those names, she'd be a dime and an 80s baby.

i think Ruuman is some kind of fruit la cuno

[globetrotter2]

Avicena,
A good topic! I could argue that it is not only the good old somali females that are under attack; even good old muslim names such as Fatima, Xaawo, Khadija, Muslimah, Meymuna, xabiibo, muslimah etc are a rarity this days; instead, you have names that I can hardly remember because of the difficulties of their pronounciations.

This phenomenon has also affected male names;

Let alone Liiban, Mahad, jimcaale, jilicow, fiidow, qowdhan , Warsame, Guleed etc somalis don't even use classical islamic names; when was the last time you saw kids called Omar, Ali, ahmed etc?.

What you have nowadays is Ridwaan, Muyasir, sudees etc...

My own theory;
Advanced societies love to maintain their cultural heritages ; ex the number of old buildings that are are constantly maintained, old names; less advanced societies ( Arabs and Africans) love contemporary things that shine: so the names...

[Avicenna]

GL - Yes, its pommegranate. I figure her mother must have really liked ruumaan.

It could also be because her mother thought very highly of her daughter & a rarity, thus Ruumaan, much like the name Canab - which is a rare fruit in Somalia.


Globe - I've noticed the trend you describe with boy names too. I personally like Prophetic names like Adam, Ibrahim, Musa, etc. But, lately there seem to be a lot of Sahabi and other Arab names like Suhaib, Abbas, Hamza, Muscab, Salman, etc. I don't remember the last time I heard a relative/someone I know name their son Liban, Mahad, Hanad, etc. Hopefully we don't lose our frail identity during our transformation. The haram police don't help it either, some parents have all together convinced themselves Arab names somehow bring us closer to Allah.

[globetrotter2]

Avicena,

I had an argument with two of my nieces the other day; they got 2 sons and named them Sudees and Musamil at the behest of Liban and Mahad.

At a time when somalis are all over the world - and when there is no distinct physical features- we need somali names to recognise each other.

[Avicenna]

Globe - you're forgetting we still have our Somali last names to fall back on, with names like Warsame, Shirwac, Dhaqane, Guled - we're still kicking major ass.

Are you old skool, sxb? I saw you mentioning Geedi Shaamboow somewhere, you gave yoursef away, awoowe.

[globetrotter2]

Globe - you're forgetting we still have our Somali last names to fall back on, with names like Warsame, Shirwac, Dhaqane, Guled - we're still kicking major ass.

Are you old skool, sxb? I saw you mentioning Geedi Shaamboow somewhere, you gave yoursef away, awoowe.

Actually, you cannot find someone under 40 called Warsame, Shirwac, Dhaqane, Guleed. Leave alone those names, do you find any Ali, Omar, Ahmed, Jeylani, Abdulkadir under the age of 20 in the diaspora?

Yes, I am old school not a contemporary of Geedi Shambow but still .... I read a historical account of the Gelidi and Gobroon dynasties and it was fascinating.

[ciyaal_warta]

yap i have seen those kind arab names like hana, hooda, shamaam and ahlaam


the funny thing is even the rabs are running away from their names and going after a western name: i know an arab gurl whos name is Diana, Rima ,Jannet and Alise

[Avicenna]

Globe - Ilaaheey kheyr haka dhigo, amiin.


Ciyaal-warta, Wardhiigleey girls had the meanest names & attitude to back it up.

Even their Zam-Zams and Ifraaxs had timo galaaman, wore buume & kicked serious butt. Waan ka cabsan jirnay.

[OliveOil]

I love

Aragsan
Asli
Haboon
Shankaroon