Arabian Name Generator

Arabian names, strictly speaking, are the names of the Arabian Peninsula: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Yemen. The oldest layer is pre-Islamic and Bedouin: warrior-poets like Antarah ibn Shaddad and Imru al-Qais, women like Khawla bint Al-Azwar and Hind bint Utbah, and evocative desert names such as Nashmi, Dhiyab (wolves), Ghazlan (gazelles), Muzna (rain cloud) and Sabha. Then comes the early Islamic era, when names took a nisba pointing to tribe or origin, like Al-Qurashi, Al-Makhzumi, Al-Ansari and Al-Farisi.

Today's Peninsula naming keeps that tribal instinct. Most Gulf surnames are Al- plus a tribe or ancestor (Al-Otaibi, Al-Mutairi, Al-Ketbi, Al-Kuwari, Al-Busaidi), and formal names still run through the father with bin or bint, as in Abdulaziz bin Fahad Al-Saud. Given names such as Fahad, Nawaf, Turki, Bandar, Nouf, Hessa, Jawaher, Moza and Alyazia are far more common in the Gulf than in Egypt or the Levant.

A third meaning of 'Arabian' is the storybook world of the Thousand and One Nights, so this list also includes Shahrazad, Sinbad, Harun Al-Rashid, Badr Al-Budur and Qamar Al-Zaman for tales set in a fabled Baghdad or Basra.