Kunya (Arabic)

A () is a teknonym in an Arabic name, the name of an adult derived from their eldest son. A kunya is used as a component of an Arabic name, a type of epithet. Literally it refers to the bearer's first-born son or daughter, and this is the usual case. But it may instead have hypothetical or metaphorical references: an example would be Abu Hurayra, “father of the kitten”, the invariable name used for one of the companions of Muhammad who was known for his pet cat.

Use of a kunya implies a familiar but respectful setting.

A kunya is expressed by the use of '' abū'' (father) or '' umm'' (mother) in a genitive construction, i.e. "father of" or "mother of" as an honorific in place of or alongside given names in the Arab world and the Islamic world more generally.

Medieval Jewish names generally had stock kunyas referencing the biblical eponym and not any relative. Those named Abraham received "abu Ishaq", those named Jacob, "abu Yusuf," and so on. In some cases the word ''abu'' is construed beyond the traditional sense of "father," so a person named Isaac received "abu Ibrahim" (son of Abraham) and one named Moses received "abu Imran" (son of Amram). Also common are kunyas which reflect qualities, such as " abu al-Afiya" (the Healthy) and "abu al-Barakat" (the Blessed).

Etymology

From the root ك ن ي (k n y), related to giving epithets.

General use

'' Abū'' or '' Umm'' precedes the son's or daughter's name, in a genitive construction (''ʼiḍāfa''). For example, the English equivalent would be to call a man "Father of John" if his eldest son is named John. Use of the ''kunya'' normally signifies some closeness between the speaker and the person so addressed, but is more formal than use of the first name. The ''kunya'' is also frequently used with reference to politicians and other celebrities to indicate respect.

A kunya may also be a nickname expressing the attachment of an individual to a certain thing: as in Abu Bakr, "father of the camel foal", given because of this person's love for camels; or Abu Hurairah, “father of the cats”, given because of his caring for and adopting stray cats. A kunya may also be a nickname expressing a characteristic of an individual, as in Umm Kulthum “mother of the chubby face”, because the characteristic of being “ kulthum” is said of someone with a chubby face.

When also using a person's own birth name, the ''kunya'' will precede the proper name. Thus: ''abū Māzin Maħmūd'', for "Mahmud, the father of Mazen" (as, for example, for Mahmoud Abbas). In Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, but not in any of the spoken dialects, ''abū'' can change into the forms ''abā'' and ''abī'' (accusative and genitive, respectively), depending on the position of the ''kunya'' in the sentence.

In westernizations of Arabic names the words ''abū'' and ''abū l-'' are sometimes perceived as an independent part of the full name, similar to a given name.

Men who do not yet have a child are often addressed by a made-up ''kunya'', most often from a popular or notable figure in Muslim or Arabian History. Arabs would take the given name and the patronymic of those famous figures and attribute it to that person. For example, the kunya of a man with the given name Khalid who has no male heir would be Abu Walid, because of the famous Muslim military commander Khalid ibn al-Walid. The converse is also true: if someone's given name was Walid, his kunya would be Abu Khalid. Less commonly, however, it would be the name of his father. This is because it is tradition for men to name their firstborns after their fathers.

Nom de guerre

A special practice evolved among Arab guerrillas, Islamist terrorists and clandestine operators, is to use real or fictional ''kunyas'' as ''noms de guerre''.

Examples of this include the ISIS leader ''Abu Bakr'' ( Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri). Osama bin Laden's kunya was "Abu Abdullah"., Coming Anarchy, 12 May 2011 Leaders of Palestinian fedayeen and Palestine Liberation Organization, such as Abu Jihad, Abu Nidal, Abu Ali Iyad are known by their kunyas. The Lebanese Christian militia leader Etienne Saqr is also known by his kunya, Abu Arz.

References

{{Arabic language

Arabic-language honorifics
Arabic words and phrases
Kunya