Syrian Last Name Generator

Generate Syrian last names as families in Syria carry them today, from city names like Halabi, Homsi and Tartousi to trade names like Qabbani, Sabbagh and Qahwaji and old Damascus and Aleppo families like Azm, Quwatli and Jabri. Surnames only, written without the article al- and with q for the Arabic letter qaf.

About Syrian last names

Most Syrian family names say where a family came from or what it once did for a living. The first kind is the nisba, an adjective in -i made from a place: Halabi from Aleppo (Halab in Arabic), Shami and Dimashqi from Damascus, Homsi from Homs, Hamwi from Hama, Deiri from Deir ez-Zor, Tartousi from the coast and Hourani from the southern plain of Hauran. Smaller towns and Damascus quarters have them too, as in Nabki, Zabadani, Midani and Shaghouri. A name like this usually stuck after a move, so it marks an origin, not a present address.

The second kind is the trade name. Qabbani is the weigher, Sabbagh the dyer, Sawwaf the wool merchant, Hallaq the barber and Sabouni the soap maker. Four centuries of Ottoman rule added the Turkish ending -ji for a maker or seller, which gives Qahwaji (coffee), Tutunji (tobacco) and Boyaji (paint or dye), and titles in -dar such as Bayraqdar, the standard bearer.

Beside these stand long-established city families, among them Azm, Quwatli and Mardam Bek in Damascus, Jabri and Kayyali in Aleppo, Atassi in Homs and Barazi in Hama. Names carried by Syria's Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrian, Circassian, Druze and Christian communities appear too, without labels, because a surname alone never proves a person's faith, ancestry or standing.

How to choose Syrian last names

• Build a full name the way Syrian papers do: a first name, then the father's first name, then a name from this list. Omar Khaled Halabi reads as Omar, son of Khaled, of the Halabi family.
• Add the article if you want the formal Arabic form. This list leaves it off, so Azm, Atrash and Khatib can also be written al-Azm, al-Atrash and al-Khatib. Pick one way and keep it for a whole cast of characters.
• Expect several Latin spellings of one name. Qabbani also appears as Kabbani, Hallaq as Hallak, Qudsi as Kudsi and Tutunji as Toutounji, because each family settled on its own spelling. This list writes q for the letter qaf and j for jim.
• Use a city name as backstory, not as an address. A Halabi living in Damascus or a Shami living in Aleppo is perfectly natural, since the name records where the family once came from.
• Keep two-part names whole. Mardam Bek, Sheikh al-Ard, Saqqa Amini, Haj Ibrahim and Abu Risheh are each one family name and should not be cut in half.

Frequently asked questions

What are common Syrian last names?

Names you meet in every Syrian city include the place names Halabi, Homsi, Hamwi, Shami and Masri and the trade and office names Haddad, Najjar, Khatib, Attar and Sabbagh. All of them are in the list. Many Syrians also use a father's or grandfather's first name, such as Ahmad or Ibrahim, as a last name. This list leaves out the most common first names of that kind and keeps some that are well known as family names, such as Boulos, Semaan and Haj Ibrahim.

What does the -ji ending in Syrian last names mean?

It is the Ottoman Turkish suffix -ci, added to a thing to name the person who makes or sells it. Qahwaji comes from coffee, Sabounji from soap, Kababji from kebab and Khudarji from greens. In names such as Marashli and Orfali the Turkish ending -li means from a place, here Marash and Urfa.

Do Syrian last names start with Al-?

Many can. Al- is the Arabic word for the, and in formal Arabic most of these names take it, as in al-Halabi or al-Azm. In everyday use and in Latin letters Syrian families often drop it, and this list writes every name that way.

Can a Syrian last name tell you someone's religion or origin?

Not reliably. A place name such as Hourani or Deiri says where a family once came from, and a trade name says what an ancestor did, but the same surname is often carried by unrelated families from different communities. Treat a name as a hint for a story, never as proof about a real person.

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All 500 Syrian last names