Mereja Forum

[Somaliman]

Over the years I have met so many Somalis named Abdi and I chuckle every-time I hear it because it means slave and yet they haven't changed their names. I thought naming a child Muhammed was bad but naming a child Abdi is even worse. Can you believe it that a mother gives birth to her child and says I want to name him slave....

I haven't seen anything worse than Ziad Barre - His first name is fine but his last name closely resembles Bariya...........

Ziad is actually a great name - Sounds great and easy to spell but yet these irresponsible Somalis choose to name their children slave than something appropriate. If your name is Abdi then my condolences.

You should inform yourself about what you want to talk about prior to embarking yourself on talking out of your arse and making yourself a perfect blueprint to build an idiot!

The names of those Somalis who call themselves 'Abdi', are in fact Abdirashid, Abdulqawi, Abdirahman, Abdulmajid, Abdilqafar, Abdirahim/Abdurahim, etc. But since it's not that easy for some non-Muslims and non-Arabic speakers to pronounce and/or remember those names without any difficulty, they just introduce themselves as 'Abdi' to others for the sake of making their name easier for others to remember to avoid being asked for their name again and again.

All those words that come after 'Abdi' are names of God and all of them have religious meanings.

For instance, Abdimajid/Abdulmajid means servant of the all-glorious (the all-glorious being Allah). Similarly, abdul-rahman/Abdirahman/Abdilrahman means servant of the most gracious (the most gracious being Allah), and Abdirahim/Abdurahim meaning servant of the most merciful (and again the most merciful is Allah), etc.

Next time when you meet a Somali calling himself 'Abdi', just ask him for his full name to realise what I've explained above.

Any Muslim will easily guess that 'Abdi' is followed by another word.

In addition, 'Barre' is an original Somali name, very rare, though. I think it's foolish to figure out how a name in a language sounds/means in other languages.

Hope this would spare you from further embarrassments.

[Abe Abraham]

Over the years I have met so many Somalis named Abdi and I chuckle every-time I hear it because it means slave and yet they haven't changed their names. I thought naming a child Muhammed was bad but naming a child Abdi is even worse. Can you believe it that a mother gives birth to her child and says I want to name him slave....

I haven't seen anything worse than Ziad Barre - His first name is fine but his last name closely resembles Bariya...........

Ziad is actually a great name - Sounds great and easy to spell but yet these irresponsible Somalis choose to name their children slave than something appropriate. If your name is Abdi then my condolences.

You should inform yourself about what you want to talk about prior to embarking yourself on talking out of your arse and making yourself a perfect blueprint to build an idiot!

The names of those Somalis who call themselves 'Abdi', are in fact Abdirashid, Abdulqawi, Abdirahman, Abdulmajid, Abdilqafar, Abdirahim/Abdurahim, etc. But since it's not that easy for some non-Muslims and non-Arabic speakers to pronounce and/or remember those names without any difficulty, they just introduce themselves as 'Abdi' to others for the sake of making their name easier for others to remember to avoid being asked for their name again and again.

All those words that come after 'Abdi' are names of God and all of them have religious meanings.

For instance, Abdimajid/Abdulmajid means servant of the all-glorious (the all-glorious being Allah). Similarly, abdul-rahman/Abdirahman/Abdilrahman means servant of the most gracious (the most gracious being Allah), and Abdirahim/Abdurahim meaning servant of the most merciful (and again the most merciful is Allah), etc.

Next time when you meet a Somali calling himself 'Abdi', just ask him for his full name to realise what I've explained above.

Any Muslim will easily guess that 'Abdi' is followed by another word.

In addition, 'Barre' is an original Somali name, very rare, though. I think it's foolish to figure out how a name in a language sounds/means in other languages.

Hope this would spare you from further embarrassments.

• Sometimes ago I asked an Iranian friend of mine why he calls himself Jabbar. He replied to me that his real name was Abdeljabbar. I told him that in my culture too we never call ourselves Jesus or Christos but Gebre-Jesus or Gebre-Christos. Gebre means servant of ....That takes us to Abdi or Gebre !!
  
  It is funny that when the Iranians and the Pakistanis shorten their compound names with Abd + by using only the second one the Somalis choose the first one. Example famous Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadir Khan ( shortened as Qadir Khan in daily life).

[Horus]

ሱማሌማን፣
በጣም ትክክል ነህ፣ አብዲ ማለት ገብሬ ማለት ነው፣ ልክ ገብረ መስቀል (የመስቀል አገልጋይ)፣ ገብረ መድህን (የመድን አገልጋይ) መድህን ያለ አዳኝ እግዚአብሄር ማለት ነው። ገብረማሪያም (የማርያል አገልጋይ)፣ ገብርኤል (የእግዚአብሄር አገልጋይ)፣ ኤል፣ አሌሎህ የሴማዊያን እግዚአብሄር ነው። በጣም ትክክል ነህ ።

ባሬ በጣም የድሮ ሴም ቃል ነው፣ እሱም የጨረቃ ብርሃን ወይም ጨረቃ ማለት ነው ፣ ለምሳሌ ባራር ማለት ሙሉ ጨረቃ ማለት ነው። ሙስሊሞች ነገር የሚያውቁት በጨረቃ ሳይክል ስለሆነ ማለት ነው።

አብዲ የሚለው ግን በጣም የተቆረጠ ነው ። ሙሉ ቃሉ አብ ዱል አልሃ ነበር። አሽከር፣ ባሪያ ወይም አገልጋይ ዶሌ ወይም ዱሌ ነው፣ ማለትም አብ ዱሌ፣ አብ ዶላ፣ ስለዚህ ሲጀመር ቃሉ አብዱል አልሃ ነበር፣ ከዚያም አብደላ ሆነ ። ገብሬ የሚለው ገበሬ ማለት ነው ። የመሬት ሰራተኛ፣ ጀበል፣ ጀበሌ ማለት ሲሆን ገብ (ጀብ) የድሮ ሴም አረብኛ ቃል ነው።

[Somaliman]

Abe Abraham and Horus,

Some Somalis call themselves also just with the name that follows 'Abdi', such as Majid, Rashid, etc., like our infamous Rashid Abdi. But many avoid this, as these are part of the 99 names of Allah.

I didn't know Gebre meant servant and that Gebremariam and Gabriel meant Servant of Mary and Servant of God respectively. Thank you, guys.