Read this GZ.....a rose by any other name in the Middle East.
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In Iraq, how can one tell Sunnis from Shi'ites by their names?
A few days ago, our colleague Jim Henley wrote the following post:
Iraqi Onomastics Bleg
You know what would be great? A handy internet reference that identifies common Iraqi given names as “Sunni,” “Shiite” or “Ambiguous.” We know that death squads shoot people for having the wrong name. And we know that anyone quoted in a media story is going to be situated in Iraq’s ethnic/sectarian conflict, whether he or she wants to be or not. It would be useful to be able to see a name and know the speaker’s religious identity.
Indeed, it would be neat for many in the West to have lists of Sunni and Shi'ite names handy. Alas, reality isn't so kind.
While it is true that there are some names that almost certainly identify their bearers as members of a distinct ethno-religious group, the general situation is too complex to delineate a sure method to obtain a label from a name only.
Here a short overview:
1. As Arab Iraqis generally do not give their children Kurdish names (one exception mentioned below), most likely anyone with a Kurdish name is going to be a Kurd. Of course, in order to recognize this one would have to know what names are Kurdish, or at least not Arabic. That's easy for those who speak Arabic and those who speak Kurdish or Persian. Some lists are here, here, and here.
2. The reverse of #1 is NOT true. Many Kurds in Iraq have Arabic first names, the most famous examples being Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq) and Mas'ud Barzani (President of the Kurdistan Region). In the first case, the family name is Kurdish, whereas in the second case one would have to know that the family name Barzani (i.e. someone from Barzan) has to be Kurdish because Barzan is a Kurdish town. As Kurds tended to not have "family names" when forced to pick one (like in the case of obtaining a passport or emigrating to a Western country where they needed to provide one for bureaucratic purposes) many Kurds chose the name of their home village or town, making them thus recognizable as Kurds (if you know which villages and towns are Kurdish, that is). Interestingly enough, one of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers is named "Barzan" ...
3. Among Iraqi Christians there are some decidedly Christian names like Yohanna (John), Mikha'il (Michael), Butros (Peter), etc.
4. However, the name 'Isa (Jesus) is fairly common among Muslims, as is Yusuf (Joseph).
5. The reverse of #2 is (also) NOT true. Many Christians have names that could be classified as "Muslim". Examples are Karim, or 'Imad, or even Ahmad.
6. Then there are some names where it is more likely than not that the bearers belong to a certain group or can be excluded from one. Obviously it is clear that Muslims would not give their Children decidedly Christian names, hence a "Mikha'il" won't be Muslim.
Some Muslim names are almost never found among Shi'ites: those of the 2nd and 3rd caliphs (Omar and Uthman), since they are perceived to have sidelined Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali. Some names are more likely to be born by a Shi'ite than a Sunni: Ali, Ridha, Ja'far. Many would instinctively include Hussein, as it seems to be "so classically Shi'ite" but as fate had it, the fact that Saddam Hussein ruled the country resulted in many a Sunni family naming their boy after the dictator, thus making foreign journalists' and analysts' work even harder ... (Also, remember the late King Hussein of Jordan.)
Now, the obvious question arises: Just how do those killers at the roadblocks know who is who?
They triangulate using name, family name, father's name, and address - all of which are on the ID Card or the passport. For instance, a man named Khalid from Najaf who's father's name is Ja'far is Shi'ite. A person named Hussein al-Tikriti is Sunni, since there are no Shi'ites in Tikrit (Saddam's hometown). Also, certain tribes only have members of a single group - Kurds, Sunnis, or Shi'ites. However, some of the biggest, like the Shammar, have both Sunni and Shi'ite members.
And so on and so forth.
Of course, Iraqis know which families of which tribe are Sunni or Shi'ite or Kurdish. And the same goes for family names in mixed towns. But for the outsider, unless is bleeding obvious (like Shirzad Sinjari or Yohanna Mikha'il or Omar Uthman al-Tikriti or Ali Ridha Hussein al-Najafi) it is next to impossible to pin it down.
For those of us with ties to Lebanon, this evokes memories of the favorite game: "Guess the sect!" Lebanese are masters at figuring out a compatriot's sectarian identity in less than three questions. The first is after the name; the second after the place of residence; and the third either about the place of education or some current issue on which the different groups have distinct opinions (could be political, or cultural, or anything really ...).
(The perpetrators of the ID Card killings during the Lebanese Civil War where Christians and Muslims were killed because of their sectarian identity had it much easier than their Iraqi "colleagues": until after the war, one's religion was printed on the ID Card)
A few years ago, a Beiruti designer, Tammam Hassan Yamout, created a "Sectarian Identification System" that was included in SHIFT! magazine's "Greetings from Beirut" edition.
And for the outsider there could be, again, some surprises. For instance, after seeing the Hizballah chieftain in the news all the time many outside Lebanon would think that "Nasrallah" is a 100% Shi'ite name. Hmmm ... how about Nasrallah Sfeir, the Maronite Patriarch?
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