Persian names

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For specific Persian names, see List of Persian given names.

Persian names, prior to the reign of Reza Shah (r. 1925 - 1941), were very different than they are today.

Prior to this time, the people of Persia 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, Khurasani, Mazindarani, Tihrani, Isfahani, and Shirazi.

Contents

[edit] Honorifics, Prefixes & Suffixes

  • Aqa آقا - Sir, mister. General term of respect.
  • Darvish درويش- A Muslim mystic (Dervish).
  • Haji حاجى- One who had made the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
  • Karbala'i كربلايى- As a prefix, one who has made the pilgrimage to Karbala. As a suffix, one from Karbila.
  • Khan خان- As a suffix, served at one time as a title, but with passing years, it became merely honorific, even meaningless, and was not a surname.
  • Mashhadi مشهدى- As a prefix, one who has made the pilgrimage to Mashad. As a suffix, one from Mashad.
  • Mirza ميرزا- 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.
  • Mulla ملا- A Muslim priest.
  • Shaykh شيخ- An elder; a chief; a professor; or the head of a dervish order.
  • Siyyid سيد- A descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
  • Ustad استاد- A master craftsman.

[edit] Final days

There were also innumerable titles conferred by the Shah in Iran, consisting of diverse combinations, sometimes ludicrous, sometimes grammatically impossible. Occasionally they indicated a definite rank and profession. As time passed, these titles multiplied absurdly.[2]

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.[3]

[edit] See also

  • Persian surnames

[edit] References

  1. ^ 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 0933770219.
  2. ^ Balyuzi, Hasan (1973). The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days. Oxford, UK: George Ronald, pp.xii. ISBN 0853980489.
  3. ^ 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. Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
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