Middle Eastern and North Africa surnames show a rich tapestry of Semitic languages, Islamic traditions, and historical migration patterns. The Islamic Conquest as well as the Arabic language have had a significant impact over the region, affecting naming practices from Morocco to Iraq.
Middle Eastern and North African surnames naming conventions
Arabic surnames frequently use patronymic patterns, with ibn or bin meaning "son of" and bint meaning "daughter of," as in Ibn Khaldun. Another prevalent element is the use of al- or el- (meaning "the") before surnames denoting place of origin (al-Baghdadi, Julani, El Masri), tribe membership (Nashashibi, ) or a distinguishing characteristic. Many surnames are named from religious or historical people, vocations, or holy titles, like Belhadj ("a person who did the Hadj pilgrimage"), Haddad (blacksmith), Hakeem (ruler) or Sharif (noble). Hebrew surnames, which have roots in Arabic, also include patronymics (Ben-David) and frequently reflect biblical ancestry or religious roles. Many Jewish families in Arab regions adopted Arabic name conventions while maintaining distinguishing parts of Hebrew identity or relative to their role in the surrounding society, like Benacerraf ("the son of the money changer"), Hazan ("cantor") or Attal ("porter"). In the beginnings of modern-time Israel, many Ashkenazi Jews chose to Hebraize their surnames, via different methods that go from vocalization change and elimination of negative connotations to direct translation into Hebrew and adoption of Mishnaic names.
Amazigh (Berber) surnames in North Africa were historically non-Arabic but became Arabized over time, particularly under Islamic and subsequently colonial influences, like Abdesselam, Mohamed and Rahmoune. Nonetheless, many Amazigh surnames include indigenous terms, which are typically associated with geography or clan names, like Aït Ahmed. Many of these became common among Moroccan Jews, (which enriched the list of surnames brought by the expellees from Spain and Portugal after the Alhambra Decree, like HaddadIfergan, Ohayon and Amzaleg.
Maltese surnames are distinctively influenced by both Semitic and European languages, which also contributes to the fact that Maltese is the only semitic language written in the Latin Alphabet. Interestingly enough, the majority of Maltese surnames, like Grech, Azzopardi and Zammit, have Italian or Sicilian origins, reflecting centuries of Latin influence through Catholic administration and Mediterranean trade.
While not usually included in the MENA region, Turkey and Iran share deep cultural and historical ties with their neighbors. Both countries standardized surnames in the 20th century, influenced by modernization and national identity. Turkish surnames were introduced in 1934 by law. Before that, people used titles, patronymics, or descriptors. Modern surnames often reflect nature (Yıldız – “star”), strength (Demir – “iron”), or nationalism (Öztürk– “pure Turk”). On the other side, Persian surnames frequently use suffixes like -zadeh (descendant of), -pour (son of), or -i (from), as in Ahmadzadeh, Amanpour or Esfahani. Many denote ancestry, place of origin, or religious lineage.
Surnames reflect stories of lineage, faith, migration, and cultural fusion throughout the Middle East and North Africa, making them an effective tool for researching family history and recognizing shared linguistic roots.
See also
Explore more about Eastern European surnames
- Discover the origin of your last name at MyHeritage
- The 10 Most Useful Arabic Last Names and Meanings
- Survival Skills for Eastern European Genealogists webinar at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Maltese Surname origins at Geni