Palestinian names belong to the broad Arabic repertoire, but they have a feature found nowhere else with the same intensity: many of them are place names. Yafa, Bisan, Jenin and Karmel are cities and landscapes that have become girls' names. Here are 40 Palestinian names, this distinctive geographic family, and the Christian names that few lists mention.
Names that carry the name of a place
This is the most distinctive trait of the Palestinian repertoire. Giving a daughter the name of a city, a plain or a mountain is a widespread practice, and each name carries a specific landscape.
| Name | The place |
|---|---|
| Yafa | Jaffa, the coastal city, famous for its orange groves. The word also means “the beautiful one” in Arabic |
| Bisan | A city in the Jordan Valley |
| Jenin | A city in the northern West Bank |
| Haifa | A major port at the foot of Mount Carmel |
| Karmel | Mount Carmel, unisex, from Hebrew and from the Arabic “the garden” |
| Quds | The Arabic name of Jerusalem, “the holy one” |
| Beisan | Spelling variant of Bisan |
These names work as a carried memory: they write an attachment to a place into the civil registry. It is a logic found elsewhere, among the Bretons with Erwan or the Corsicans with Cyrnea, but rarely with such consistency.
Names that carry a wish
The second very common family: names that are abstract words, chosen for what they promise.
- Amal: “hope,” feminine, one of the most common names.
- Hanan: “tenderness,” “compassion.”
- Sana: “brilliance,” “splendor.”
- Karam: “generosity,” masculine.
- Majd: “glory,” unisex.
- Nour: “light,” unisex, used throughout the Arab world.
- Salam: “peace,” unisex.
- Reem: “the white gazelle,” a classic image in Arabic poetry.
Christian names in Palestine
Here is what most lists forget. Palestine is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, notably in Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jerusalem. It has its own repertoire, Arabic in form, Christian in reference.
| Name | Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Issa | Jesus, in Arabic |
| Jiries | George |
| Butros | Peter |
| Elias | Elijah |
| Hanna | John, masculine in Christian Arabic |
| Mariam | Mary |
| Sabri | From sabr, patience, used in both communities |
Hanna deserves a useful clarification: in Christian Arabic, it is a masculine name, the equivalent of John. In Europe, it is perceived as feminine. The confusion is common in the diaspora.
40 Palestinian names
For a boy
Yousef, Ahmad, Khaled, Bassel, Tareq, Rami, Ziad, Majd, Wael, Nader, Anas, Mustafa, Ibrahim, Karam, Amir, Bilal, Hani, Marwan, Jamal, Adel, Issa, Jiries, Butros, Elias, Hanna.
For a girl
Amal, Yafa, Bisan, Jenin, Haifa, Lina, Rana, Nour, Sana, Maysoun, Hanan, Reem, Salma, Layan, Zeina, Rula, Mariam, Dalal, Nadia, Samar.
What the diaspora has changed
Palestinians form one of the most widely scattered diasporas in the world, present in Jordan, Lebanon, Chile, the United States and Europe. This has changed the repertoire in three ways:
- Geographic names have grown in popularity, precisely because they maintain a link with a place one no longer lives in.
- Short, international names have taken hold: Rami, Lina, Sami and Nour can be used anywhere without adaptation.
- Double names have become common, with an Arabic name and a name from the host country.
The Palestinian community in Chile, the largest outside the Middle East, offers a good example of this blending, with Spanish first names paired with Palestinian family names.
The names that work best in France
- Amal: four letters, soft, and “hope” is easy to explain.
- Nour: unisex, short, already well established in France.
- Rami: no difficulty with pronunciation or spelling.
- Lina: very popular in France, perfectly transparent.
- Yafa: rare, resonant, with a double meaning, “the beautiful one” and the city.
To anticipate: Hanna, which will systematically be taken for a feminine name in France although it is masculine in Christian Arabic, and Jiries, whose spelling is confusing.
For a neighboring repertoire, see our Lebanese names, which share with Palestine the same dual Christian and Muslim tradition, and our selection of Arabic names for boys.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most characteristic Palestinian name?
Yafa and Bisan, because they are city names that have become girls' names. This family of geographic names is the clearest distinguishing feature of the Palestinian repertoire. Amal, “hope,” is also very common.
Are there Palestinian Christian names?
Yes. Palestine is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, in Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jerusalem. Issa corresponds to Jesus, Jiries to George, Butros to Peter and Hanna to John.
Is Hanna a masculine or feminine name?
In Christian Arabic, Hanna is masculine: it is the equivalent of John. In Europe, it is perceived as feminine, which creates frequent misunderstandings in the diaspora.
How does it differ from Arabic names in general?
The repertoire is largely shared across the Arab world. What distinguishes Palestine is the place of geographic names, that of Eastern Christian names, and the frequency of abstract names like Amal or Salam.
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