Bad Arabic baby names

By: Qwaider

On:Tuesday, March 18, 2008 2:03:14 AM
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Since I've been thinking about these for a while, and since baby season is in the Air, here's a list of the worst ARABIC baby names. Especially if you're living in the west, or hope that your son/daughter go to the west.

Similar to: MamaBean's

Here's the list

آلاء / علاء: Ala'a
The name is confusing. It translates to the same spelling in English
أنس: Anas
The name is fine, translates regularly. But it's pronounced similar to "Anus" in English
باسل: Basil (sometimes Basel)
Basil is a leafy aromatic shrub, it looks like Molokhyyeh but has a strong smell. It's easy to get the two confused
فتحي: Fathi, should be (Fat'he)
Fathi (فاذي => فاظي => قاضي)means Empty in Arabic. There's no way to pronounce Fathi any other way without adding punctuation or splitting the words
شادي: Sahdy
It's enough to be Arab in the west, to combine that with the name "Shady" which means Fishy/suspicious is like adding a huge bulls eye on top of your head
عاص/عاصي/عاصم: Ass, Assy, Assem
The link to "Ass" is too great to overlook!
رنا: Rana
Although, it's not common in English, it is common in Spanish to call frogs Rana. It's also the scientific name
حاتم: Hatem
Sounds like "Hate'em"
بوسي: Boussy
Too close to another word of profanity in English.
مِرعِد: Mered
Not a bad word in English, but sounds like Merd in french
سوكا: Suka, Soka
Not a common name, but I've heard people use it as nickname. Bad word in Russian
اسامة: Osama
Too bad, the name has been hijacked and now, people use it the same way they use the name Hitler
عزيز: Aziz
Sounds like "As-Is"
فيصل: Faisal
Commonly mispronounced as Facial
يحيى: Yahya
Sounds like Yaya. Not very flattering for a guy
فاطمة: Fatima
Sounds like... Fati-Ma, easily transferred to Fati-Mama!
سهير: Souhair
Sounds like, Sou-Hair. Sou has hair!
فرهود: Farhoud
Not too bad, sounds like Far-hood!
جويعد: Juwaied
Sounds like Jewed! Not too bad if you're Jewish :)
صقر: Saquer
Sounds a lot like Sucker

I hope this guide helps the expecting parents and saves the kids a few wedgies and a hard time at school.

PS: If you have any ... please do share!

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#1
Faisal
Said
On: 3/18/2008 9:13:13 AM

Any arabic name will be slaughtered in the west, especially in the US, so for the expecting parents, don't worry about it, if you are thinking of a non-english name, nothing is going to help.

Faisal has been pronounced as " Facial" and I even got a "Zinfel" one time!!!

#2
ProudPali
Said
On: 3/18/2008 9:15:04 AM

thank God Suka is not a common name! who does that to their kids man?! lol

Shadi/y means monkey in iraqi iza ana mish ghal6aneh, and in urdu/hindi it means marriage. let alone the shady hazy bit :D

worst name i ever came across (true story ppl) was silk, his dad is called kahraba, and il a5 min 3eilet il 3iryan! someone was playing an awful joke there!!!

#3
vagueraz
Said
On: 3/18/2008 9:36:13 AM

Good morning ,
Suka !! had esem mush mashhoooor ! ..
Osama byrbotooo b osama ebn laden !!! f akeeed makroooh ,
but shadi and bassel asmaaa2 7elwh !!!!!!

#4
KJ
Said
On: 3/18/2008 10:00:28 AM

LoooL Qu, shakelna mesh 7anjeeb wlad men warak he3 he3

#5
mrs al ramahi
Said
On: 3/18/2008 11:22:25 AM

I always think about this when it comes to naming my kids in the future! I hope I dont name my babies with names that the "7" that would be pronounced as "h" and make it sound a bit different that it should sound in arabic. With the arabic letters some words should sound tougher but with the english letters they sound the opposite.. Personally, i want to avoid boy/girl names and ones with the "7" sound, Mohammed would be the only exception.. I used to like the name faisal but never thought about the facial thingy :S i think i will reconsider! :)

#6
Tamara
Said
On: 3/18/2008 11:26:27 AM

baby names are a fun subject : ) I guess any name that has ( ع غ ق ظ ض ) is not good. my parents took this into consideration when they named us, they wanted my maternal grandparents "and mother" : ) to be able to pronounce our names correctly.

#7
Dave
Said
On: 3/18/2008 11:53:34 AM

I have an American friend who lives in Jordan and her name is Anna, which translates to "I" or "me" in Arabic. I also had a friend named Nikki who lived her, but because of the meaning in Arabic, she went by her middle name: Carrie. :)

#8
wonders
Said
On: 3/18/2008 12:08:33 PM

people, your children will suffer with their names long enough until the moment they decide to give theirselves a nick name as funny as those

Khalil --> Kelly
Waseem --> Simon
Osama --> Alex
Moneer --> Mo
Mustafa --> Steve

Seriously those people exist! :D

#9
Imad
Said
On: 3/18/2008 3:13:37 PM

Suka..Facial ..lol :) don't forget Yaya ( as in YahYa...) BTW, what is Qawider's name ????????

#10
Lost Within
Said
On: 3/18/2008 4:07:30 PM

LoL @ the rana part I was talking to my friend about it only yesterday!
Mona means moneky in spanish so that name is off the list !
and the fathi name , once my friend had a friend whose name is fathi and I was like who is this fat7i u r talking to ? he is much older than you and egyptian * me acting like an older wiser person * , but it turned out he was malaysian !!

#11
Arima
Said
On: 3/18/2008 4:09:26 PM

Fatima...can be turned into fatty

Souheir....Hairy Sue!

#12
Adoosh
Said
On: 3/18/2008 4:37:33 PM

You forgot to mention the name "Jihad"!

I'm sure they don't feel comfortable with it anymore in the US :D

#13
nido
Said
On: 3/18/2008 6:41:25 PM

Choosing a suitable name here in the states is a big deal...It's not gonna be easy for us to settle on a nice, meaningful and easy to pronounce name!
My friend, who just gave birth to a girl, named her (Al-3anoud) and just before leaving the hospotal, she changed it into (Jude) cuz the pronounciation of the previous one in english would be Ala-Nude! hehe

#14
Maioush
Said
On: 3/18/2008 7:14:17 PM

leash Basil tayeb?? malo Basil maskeen walahi ma 7aka m3 7ada, o ma kan 3amel 7sabo yeeji 3ala US of A :D

#15
th14
Said
On: 3/18/2008 8:31:40 PM

Basil is not just an Arabic, there are white westerners called Basil. plus there is Basil Fawlty of Fawlty Towers fame.

#16
Lulu
Said
On: 3/18/2008 11:24:47 PM

lol...this is a funny post.

#17
mab3oos
Said
On: 3/18/2008 11:29:05 PM

add to that:
فرهود
جويعد
صقر (sucker)
احمدينجاد (ahmed, I am a nut job)
qwaider
.
.
.the list goes on.

#18
Simply Me
Said
On: 3/19/2008 5:13:11 AM

what's wrong with Faisal? I like it!!!

#19
Qwaider
Said
On: 3/19/2008 9:11:13 AM

Faisal
Thanks, I added that :)

Proud Pali
You don't know Muhammad Suka?

Razan
heheheh I know. But they sound weird in English

KJ
Glad you liked it

Mrs Al Ramahi
Good, everyone needs to think and consider the name from many angles. After all, the children need to live with it for a lifetime

Tamara
That's right, but there are names that are easy. Like take for example "Ramadan" it has a ض but its still easy. (Although pakistani's would pronounce it.. Ramzan) :)

Dave
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I was going to add a full section for western names. Nikki is definitely on it

Wonders!
WOW! No one likes their name or something!? And what the hell does Mustafa has to do with Steve!?

Imad
HEHEHEHEH Yaya ... yes, I saw it on Jay Leno! Yahya
Qwaider is my name!

Lost Within
Really? Mona means Monkey? I thought Mai means monkey! Although, I've found a type of monkey on Wikipedia called Mona! Interesting. I should have used that with my ex-fiance

Arima!!
LOL Fati-ma!
Souheir!!! LOL!!! Sou-Hair! hahahahaha

Adoosh
Yep!
Jihad is one of those!

Nido
HAHAHAHA ...
Jude is nicer sounding than AL-3anoud. Which doesn't even sound all that great in Arabic either

Maioush
Basil :) you know ... they add that to the Vietnamese soup :)

th14
I know .. I know. But it's good to warn people you know

Lulu
Thanks :)

Garfan
hahahahah
I will add those

Simply
It sounds like Facial! So someone with that name might end up with a lot of make up on their face :)

#20
Maioush
Said
On: 3/19/2008 9:21:36 AM

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!!! you told them that Mai means monkey!!!!!! not everybody know that!!! nobody was suppose to know about it :S :S :S :S :S :S ... i guess you can add my name to your list then :( i wanna change my name now!! :( :(

#21
Qwaider
Said
On: 3/19/2008 9:52:38 AM

Mai as an name sounce nice in English ... No problems there

#22
Lost Within
Said
On: 3/19/2008 9:54:46 AM

OMG OMG OMG !!
u had an ex fiance !!!

:O :O :O :O :O
sum1 collect my jaw off the floor !!!

#23
Lost Within
Said
On: 3/19/2008 10:06:54 AM

and oh mai , ur name can be easily pronounced in english ! u do not have "ع" to turn ur name into a dilemma !!
lemme show u the various pronouncitations of my pretty poetic name "wa3d" :P
1- British teacher :
wa'eeed , he used to make me feel like I had esem morakab or sth!

2- American friend :
Wad , wad in english means : eshe mka3bal aw ma7shee , hmmmmm...sth like lafeh :P

3- ur auntie from Salvador :
wa'ad ,it is ok ,ur Grandgfather says wa3ad and so does ur Iraqi friend !

4- teacher from Cyprus:
What!! how on earth did she manage to convert wa3d to what , ma b3raf ! bel 7essah whenever she asks a question that starts with what ana ba no6 like : yes !

all of the above settled on calling me promice !
so as u can see ur name is ne3meh ya benet oh ,did I not mention that wa3d is a unisex name :P

#24
Ramzy
Said
On: 3/19/2008 11:31:58 AM

Hey, how do you wrtie Alex in Arabic? Just take a piece of paper and jot the name down in Arabic, or use the keyboard. If you're clever enough you'll ad the letter "ي" after "س". Wicked, isn't it?

#25
Ramzy
Said
On: 3/19/2008 11:37:34 AM

Ops... I mean add "ي" before "ك"!!!!

#26
Ashraf
Said
On: 3/19/2008 3:49:59 PM

Its so weird how u guys actually care about how arabic names would be pronounced in other languages or what would they mean!!!!!!

I think all the names in all the languages can be made fun of, no matter how hard u try to avoid it. Teens are crazy :) and always find thier way thru to make fun of others names.

So go ahead and name ur kids the names u like.

#27
Qwaider
Said
On: 3/19/2008 10:33:36 PM

It's easy to say that when you're not the one who will be going to school and getting wedgies.
I think every parent has an obligation to name their children in a proper respectful dignifying way.

#28
ياسمين حميد
Said
On: 3/20/2008 5:56:45 AM

Yaya...
My cousin (8 years) is called Yahya to, and suffered very much when he was called yaya in school. And as for me, I HATE it when someone calls me jasmine
(it reminds me of جاسم, as if you had 2 jasems, similar to حسنين ومحمدين) hehe
Fortunately for me, my name is pronounced the 'right' way in Germany. But I had to change it in the passport from Jasmin to Yasmin to ensure it would be pronounced the same way in all languages.
I know someone called Gerd, in Arabic that would be قرد!!!

Bottom line, whatever your name is, there will always be another language that has some bad meaning for the same word. But of course it IS important for parents who live in another country to pick names for their children which don't have any insulting meaning in the language(s) of that country.

#29
Hani Obaid
Said
On: 3/20/2008 3:16:00 PM

For me the best multilingual names for boy and girl are:
Adam/Mona

Of course, this is for Arabic and English, in Italy Mona can mean monkey :D

#30
Wasim
Said
On: 3/21/2008 12:50:11 AM

My Name is Wasim (Waseem) and I have no problem at all with my name if I lived overseas, I have a lot of customers in the US and Canada and they all say my name the correct way, the only one who faced a problem saying my name was a chines engineer, it was impossible for her to say my name, No problem I won't go to live in china any way.

One of the guys up said that Waseem is turned into Simon (what an ugly name) I am Simon Ayoubi (don't even think about it).

Ah, but I have a problem, I will name my first son "Anwar أنور" after my grandfather, I wounder if that was a good name, about my daughters the first one is "Celine" and the second one is "Santine" which are both French, Inshallah.

#31
Lubna
Said
On: 3/21/2008 11:10:01 PM

:-) Thrse are too many names...if you are going to mention the "Bad Meaning" in each language, so we won't have any Good names. What about the bad names in other languages..they are much worse.

#32
laila
Said
On: 3/24/2008 10:59:50 PM

Mai sounds like me so on the phone 'hello it's mai here', will get the response 'me who?' --- i do like the name though.

amru.. ammm,ummm, roo (as in a a kangaroo).

shady can be spelled chadi and you solve the problem.

i once heard firas pronounces fire-ass.

amjad, in an american accent comes across as "I am John" :D

#33
Zara (USA)
Said
On: 5/15/2008 11:35:55 PM

This is so cool and helpful! I was thinking of Faisal, very pretty in Arabic, but oh man Facial!!! sounds so girly and gay for a boy. it's off my list now! I also thought about Rakan, but I kept thinking how it would sound in english and it could be pronounced "Rack-Anne"!!! o_O;
Off the list for sure!

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