Islamic history attributes the issue of prohibiting Christians from naming themselves with Muslim names or using their nicknames to Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab. We find al-Ayni, one of the historians of Islam, saying: “In the year 754 (1353 AD), the Sultan decreed that the People of the Covenant be approved of what the Commander of the Faithful Omar ibn al-Khattab had approved of them, which was to stop resembling Muslims and using their names.” However, the reality of the situation indicates that this ban was imposed a long time after the reign of Omar, and Omar had nothing to do with it, neither directly nor indirectly, since the fact that Christians continued to use the same names that Muslims give their children makes us say that this ban was imposed at a later stage, that is, after about ten centuries of Islamic rule.
The Abbasid Caliphate witnessed many Christians who worked in the courts of the caliphs and their names were not different from the names of Muslims, such as Al-Hussein bin Amr, the scribe of the Caliph Al-Muqtafi, and Ali bin Al-Rahba, his physician, Ali bin Ibrahim Bukhtishu (the son of a prestigious Christian family famous for its physicians), Ali bin Suwar, who built the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after the Muslims destroyed it and burned its doors, and Othman bin Saeed Al-Nestori, the owner of the treasury (the equivalent of today's Minister of Finance). Among the Greek Orthodox, Abu Al-Hassan Sahlan bin Othman bin Kaysan, the Egyptian physician, and Suleiman bin Al-Hassan, the Bishop of Gaza, were famous. Among the women, the poetess Zainab bint Ishaq Al-Rasini was famous. Christians were also called Ahmed and Mahmoud, including Majid bin Ahmed Fakhr Al-Din Al-Qibti, known as Ibn Zanbur (+1386 AD).
The same phenomenon is found in Andalusia (present-day Spain), where the name Rabi’ ibn Zayd appears in the list of bishops of Cordoba, and Walid ibn Khairun, the Christian judge in Cordoba, and Ubaydallah ibn Qasim, the bishop of Toledo, were famous, as well as Sa’id al-Matran, who is the same as Juan of Seville, who wrote an Arabic commentary on the Torah and translated the Gospel into Arabic. Some of them took two names, such as Sa’id al-Matran, Khalid ibn Sulayman (known as Domingo ibn Sulayman), Salih ibn Umar (Juan ibn Umar), and Ibn al-Aziz al-Hamami (Clemens Filius Youannes).
Christians adopted Islamic nicknames (the plural of nickname, which is a term of honor, such as Abu So-and-so). Among those who were famous for them were Abu Ali ibn al-Masihi, the head of medicine in Baghdad, Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Ibrahim al-Shirazi, the treasurer of the Caliph Mu’izz al-Dawla, Abu al-Hasan al-Mukhtar ibn al-Hasan ibn Butlan the physician, Abu al-Hasan Sa’id ibn Sinjla, the scribe of the Caliph al-Radi Billah, Abu al-Husayn ibn Ibrahim al-Tastari the scribe, Abu Uthman Sa’id ibn Ya’qub al-Dimashqi the physician, and Abu al-Fadl ibn Dawud the scribe. This type of nickname was not limited to secularists, but some Christian clerics of various ranks were nicknamed with names known to be Islamic, such as Archdeacon Abu al-Hasan Hibat Allah al-Nestori, Deacon Abu al-Fath ibn Zatina al-Nestori, Priest Shams al-Ri’ayah Abu al-Barakat ibn Kabar al-Qibti, Orthodox Deacon Abu al-Fath Abdullah ibn al-Fadl ibn al-Matran, Bishop Abu al-Hasan al-Yaqoubi, and “the virtuous and righteous bishop Mar Abu Ali Sahl Mawla Qais.”
Like Muslims, Christians also adopted titles added to the word “religion,” such as Jamal al-Din Ali ibn Athardi al-Nestori, Taj al-Din Mari ibn Sa’id Toma, Sheikh Muwaffaq al-Din Ya’qub ibn Ishaq the Orthodox physician (from Karak in Iraq), and his fellow Orthodox physicians Alam al-Din Abu al-Nasr Girgis ibn Hulayqa, Muhadhdhab al-Din Abu Sa’id ibn Dawud ibn Abi al-Muna, Rashid al-Din Abu al-Wahsh ibn Abi Hulayqa, and others. Al-Qalqashandi, one of the historians of Islam, said: “The Copts have titles that are specific to them. They say “Shams al-Din” for Abdullah, “Taj al-Din” for Abd al-Razzaq, and they may say “Sa’d al-Din” for Ibrahim, “Ilm al-Din” for Wahba, “Taqi al-Din,” and so on.” Among the strange names is the name of Taj al-Dawla Sayf al-Islam Bahram al-Armani, the minister of the Caliph al-Hafiz li-Din Allah. Among the titles of Christians are those to which the word “king” is added, such as Sheikh Mustafa al-Malik Ya’qub ibn Girgis the physician. In this manner, what was added to the terms “caliphate,” “imam,” “presidency,” and “presidents” such as Father Shams al-Ra’isa…
Of course, some people revolted against this type of names. Samuel, the head of the Qalamoun Monastery (in Egypt), who witnessed the Muslims’ conquest of his country, criticized his co-religionists who imitate the Hijra (in reference to Hagar, the wife of Ishmael) and name their children after themselves and leave the names of angels, prophets, apostles, and martyrs. But what we see today of the spread of non-Christian and non-Arabic names pronounced with American and European accents far removed from our heritage and history, and some of which have pagan connotations derived from the names of Greek, Latin, Buddhist, Hindu, and other gods, leaves us without identity or heritage. Our church and Arabic names carry meanings that color their bearers and contribute to their intellectual and human formation and place them at the heart of the concerns of their struggling church and homeland. So why search outside this framework for names for our children?
From my parish bulletin 2001
