Sa‘id

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Sa‘id
Pronunciation	Arabic: [saˈʕiːd] Persian: [sæ'ʔiːd]
Gender	Male
Origin
Word/name	Arabic
Meaning	Happy

Sa‘id (also spelled Saeed, Saeid, Said, Sid, or Sayid; Arabic: سعيد‎‎, Sa‘īd) is a male Arabic given name, which means "happy". For the female version, see Saida; for the Turkish variant, see Sait; for the Bosnian variant, see Sejad. Said or Sid is the spelling used in most Latin languages.

The Maltese surname Said, pronounced [saɪt], has the same origin but has been borne by Latin Catholics for over seven centuries. Most Maltese surnames are of Italian origin, but this (with Abdilla) is one of the very few authentically Arabic given names that have survived in the islands as family names. It is a variant of the medieval Sicilian Christian surname Saido or Saito (Saidu), which was derived from the Siculo-Arabic given name Sa'īd used by both Muslims and Christians. In Sicily and Malta this surname was sometimes italianized as (De) Felice. The surname was established in Malta by 1419, appearing mostly as Sayd in the militia list of that year. In the 1480 militia list it is spelt mostly Said, but was later variously written Said, Sayd, Sajt, Sait in the Catholic church census of 1687. The anachronistic and undocumented claim that 'Nicolò Sayd', a grandson of Cem (1459–1496, the renegade son of Turkish Sultan Mehmet II) settled in Malta and became the ancestor of all Maltese bearing the surname Said is a fantasy inspired by the writings of historical novelists Maurice Caron and John Freely and recently promoted by amateur genealogists.

Today, francophone countries use transliterations of that name. These include the names Seydoux and Seydou, which are common in Europe and West Africa, respectively.

Given name

Saeed bin Zaid (593–673), one of the companions of Muhammed
Sa'id ibn Jubayr (665–714), one of the leading Tabi‘un
Sultan Said Khan, ruler of Kashgaria in 1514–1533
Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman (1797–1856)
Sa'id of Egypt (or Sa'id Pasha, 1822–1863), Ottoman Viceroy and Egyptian ruler for whom Port Said is named
Mehmed Said Pasha (or Said Pasha, 1830–1914), Ottoman Grand Vizier
Said Nursî (1878–1960), Muslim Scholar from Turkey
Saeed Akhtar Mirza (born 1943), Indian film director
Saeed Abubakr Zakaria, 21st-century Ghanaian scholar and leading member of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaa'a
Saïd Taghmaoui (born 1973), French actor
Saeid Bayat (born 1976), Iranian football midfielder
Saeid Ebrahimi (born 1982), Iranian wrestler
Saeid Marouf (born 1985), volleyball player from Iran
Said Shavershian (born 1986), Australian bodybuilder, older brother of Aziz Shavershian, aka Zyzz
Saeid Davarpanah (born 1987), Iranian professional basketball player
Saeid Alihosseini (born 1988), Iranian weightlifter
Saeed Ajmal, Pakistani cricketer
Said Salim Bakhresa, Tanzanian businessman
Said Bahaji, German al-Qaeda member
Saeed al-Ghamdi, Saudi Arabian hijacker of United Airlines Flight 93 in the September 11 attacks
Saeed Hanaei, Iranian serial killer
Sa'id Hormozi, Iranian musician
Saeed al-Masri, Egyptian al-Qaeda member
Saeed Nafisi, Iranian scholar
Saeed Naqvi, Indian journalist
Saeid Pirdoost, Iranian actor
Said Sheikh Samatar, Somali historian
Said Ali al-Shihri, Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda member

Abu Sa‘id

Abū-Sa'īd Abul-Khayr (967–1049), Persian Sufi and poet
Abu Sa'id (Ilkhanid dynasty) (1316–1335), ninth ruler of the Ilkhanate state in Iran
Abu Sa'id (Timurid dynasty) (1424–1469), mid-fifteenth century Timurid Empire ruler in what are today parts of Persia and Afghanistan
Khaled al-Hassan (1928–1994), known as Abu Said, Palestine Liberation Organization leader

Surname

Abdelmadjid Sidi Said, leader of the Algerian trade union UGTA
Abdulla Saeed (born 1964), chief justice of the Maldives
Agha Saeed, chairman of the American Muslim Alliance
Amina Said (born 1953), poet
Anjum Saeed (born 1968), Pakistani field hockey player
Boris Said (born 1962), American race car driver
Brian Said (born 1973), Maltese footballer
Edward Said (1935–2003), Palestinian-American literary critic and theorist
Kurban Said, pseudonym for the author of the novel Ali and Nino
Hakim Said (1920–1998), Pakistani physician and scholar
Hussein Saeed, Iraqi footballer
Raymond Saeed, apostolic administrator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Multan, Pakistan
Samira Said (born 1961), Moroccan pop star
Wafic Saïd (born 1939), Syrian businessman
Ali Said Raygal, Somali politician

Fictional characters

Sayid Jarrah, character on the television series Lost
Kareem Saïd, character on the HBO drama Oz

Other uses

Sa'idi people refers to the inhabitants of Upper Egypt. The Egyptian geographic term is spelled with a Ṣād (صعيد). The personal name is related to a different root, whose first letter is Sīn.
Saïd Business School at Oxford University, name after Wafic Saïd