Egyptian Last Name Generator

Generate Egyptian last names the way families in Egypt write them today, from El- names like El-Masry, El-Sharkawy and El-Naggar to Abdel Rahman, Mansour and Fahmy and Coptic family names like Girgis and Tadros. Spellings follow Egyptian romanization, with El- for the article and g where other Arab countries write j.

About Egyptian last names

Ancient Egyptians had no surnames. A person carried one name, sometimes with a nickname, and was told apart by a parent's name or a title, so nothing in this list goes back to the pharaohs. The family names of Egypt today are Arabic and Coptic, and they still work differently from Western ones. An official name is a chain: your own name, then your father's, then your grandfather's, and only sometimes a fixed family name at the end. For many Egyptians the last name on a passport is simply a grandfather's first name, which is why Hassan, Mansour, Fahmy and Mostafa are everyday last names.

Families that do hand down a name often carry one with El-, the Egyptian form of the Arabic article. Many point to a place: El-Masry means the Egyptian or the Cairene, El-Tantawy comes from Tanta, El-Sharkawy from Sharqia and El-Aswany from Aswan. Others are trades, such as El-Naggar the carpenter, El-Haddad the blacksmith and El-Attar the spice seller.

Coptic Christian families often carry saints' names in their Egyptian forms, such as Girgis (George), Tadros (Theodore), Boutros (Peter) and Morcos (Mark). Many names are shared across communities, though, so a surname alone never tells you a person's faith or origin.

How to choose Egyptian last names

• Build a full name the Egyptian way: a first name, then the father's first name, then a name from this list. Omar Hassan El-Sharkawy reads as Omar, son of Hassan, of the El-Sharkawy family.
• Keep the Egyptian spelling. Egypt writes g where the Levant and the Gulf write j, and El- where they write Al-, so El-Naggar, Gamal and Hegazy are the Egyptian forms of al-Najjar, Jamal and Hijazi.
• Expect variants and pick one. The same family name turns up as El-Sayed, El Sayed and Elsayed, and emigrant families often close it up for good. The list has closed-up forms such as Serageldin and Mohieddin next to Nour El-Din and Ezz El-Din.
• Use a place name as backstory with care. El-Aswany and El-Nouby point south, El-Iskandarany to Alexandria and El-Domiaty to Damietta, but such a name says where a family once came from, not where it lives now.
• Never cut a two-part name in half. Abdel Aziz, Aboul Gheit and Shams El-Din are each one family name. Abdel means servant of the and needs the word that follows it.

Frequently asked questions

Did ancient Egyptians have last names?

No. An ancient Egyptian had a single personal name, sometimes with a second name or nickname, and was identified further by a parent's name, a title or a home town. Hereditary family names are a much later development, and the ones in this list are the Arabic and Coptic names of modern Egypt.

What are common Egyptian last names?

Because so many Egyptians use a father's or grandfather's first name as their last name, the ones you meet most are given names: Mohamed, Ahmed, Aly, Hassan, Ibrahim and Mahmoud. Among handed-down family names, El-Masry, El-Sharkawy, El-Naggar, El-Shazly and El-Gohary are widely met. All of these are in the list.

What does El- mean in an Egyptian name?

It is the word the, the Egyptian pronunciation of the Arabic article al-. El-Masry is the Egyptian and El-Gazzar is the butcher. It is usually written with a hyphen and a capital E, but El Masry and Elmasry are the same name in other hands.

Are Coptic family names different from Muslim ones?

Partly. Names such as Girgis, Tadros, Shenouda, Bakhoum and Abdel Messih (servant of the Messiah) come from Christian saints and Coptic tradition. Plenty of others, such as Mansour, Ibrahim, Habib and Youssef, are carried by Muslim and Christian families alike, so a name is a hint at most and never proof.

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