# Islamic Names **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819 "2024-07-06T19:44:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/1 "2024-07-06T19:44:19Z")
Do people who convert to Islam always choose Arabic names when they convert? For example, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali. Does the convert choose the name or is the name chosen for them? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/2 "2024-07-06T20:12:52Z")
Malcom Little converted to Islam in prison and took the name Malcolm X. Years later, he completed the Hajj to Mecca, after which he took on an Arabic name. There are likely other high-profile examples. That said, adoption of an Arabic name upon conversion is common. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/3 "2024-07-06T20:20:41Z")
Comedian David Chapelle, boxer Mike Tyson, and British journalist Lauren Booth are converts to Islam who did not adopt new names. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/4 "2024-07-06T20:24:29Z")
Lou Alcinder did. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/5 "2024-07-06T20:25:48Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Lou Alcinder did. - Lew Alcindor ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/6 "2024-07-06T21:35:14Z")
Possibly lots of them take Arabic names because lots of Muslims have Arabic names. The same way many Christians break out the King James English when they pray. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/7 "2024-07-06T22:13:37Z")
Muhammad Ali, Malcolm Shabazz, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar changed their names not just because they converted to Islam, but because they were rejecting their birth names as slave names. That is, it was tied to the history of slavery and discrimination in the U.S. Yusuf Islam is a prominent non-American who changed his name when he converted. He was born Steven Demetre Georgiou, and his stage name was Cat Stevens. He’s British, and his ancestry has nothing to do with American slavery, as far as I know. In any case, there’s no requirement to have an Arabic name after converting to Islam. The people who do that have their own reasons apart from (or in addition to) their conversions. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/8 "2024-07-06T22:16:57Z")
[G. Willow Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Willow_Wilson) (the G, for Gwendolyn) converted to Islam as an adult, without changing her name ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/9 "2024-07-07T04:53:06Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Possibly lots of them take Arabic names because lots of Muslims have Arabic names. Since only about 20% of Muslims are Arabic [ok, that still makes “lots”], it does not seem like a strong link, if at all. I can see a convert being _inspired_ to take on, e.g., a theophoric name or epithet. However, the factual answer is, you don’t have to change or adjust your name, and I would be a little surprised if many people at all did so, though I do not have any kind of statistics. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/10 "2024-07-07T05:01:46Z")
A good friend of mine (who was also my manager at one point) converted to Islam as an adult, at about the same time that he married a Muslim woman from Morocco. He’s a white American, raised Methodist, born and raised in suburban Chicago, and both his given name and surname originate from the British Isles. He did not change his name. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/11 "2024-07-07T07:33:15Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Since only about 20% of Muslims are Arabic [ok, that still makes “lots”], it does not seem like a strong link, if at all. I can see a convert being _inspired_ to take on, e.g., a theophoric name or epithet. However, the factual answer is, you don’t have to change or adjust your name, and I would be a little surprised if many people at all did so, though I do not have any kind of statistics. 80% of Muslims might not be Arabs, but all of them revere the Qur’an, which is written in Arabic and contains many Arabic names. Taking an Arabic name is not about Arabic culture per se, it’s about venerating the Qur’an. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/12 "2024-07-07T08:00:16Z")
Taking an Arabic name is not compulsory unless your birth name happens to refer to something that is forbidden in Islam. If your name is, say, ‘Trinity’ or ‘Servant of the Gods’, you’d have to change it. Otherwise, no. It is however considered good form to do so, and many Muslims routinely ask converts what their Islamic name is. You’re totally free to choose the Islamic name that you want. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/13 "2024-07-07T08:25:17Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Possibly lots of them take Arabic names because lots of Muslims have Arabic names. The same way many Christians break out the King James English when they pray. That comparison doesn’t quite work. The status of Arabic in Islam is not just a question of statistics. It’s the holy language of the religion. Most importantly it’s the original language of the Quran, which is considered to be the literal word of God and untranslateable - of course Quran translations into other languages exist, but they’re considered to be mere approximations that don’t quite capture the full content of the original text. That’s why even non-Arab Muslims prefer to recite the Quran in Arabic if they can. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/14 "2024-07-07T17:00:10Z")
How different is the Arabic language in the earliest versions of the Quran from contemporary speech? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/islamic-names/1003819/15 "2024-07-07T17:21:42Z")
In every day speech Arabic has diverged into local languages that are not mutually intelligible, but the classical Arabic of the Quran is still known to people (and there is a generic modernized Arabic that is a widely used lingua franca as well). It’s much like people in the Middle Ages spoke French, Italian and Spanish locally, but knew classical Latin, and the more modern Church Latin which was slightly different than classical Latin.