ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1337 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1337 ************************************ 26 Oct 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the Arabic feminine name and about choosing an appropriate last name for a 13th century woman whose mother was English and whose father was Arabic. This letter is an answer to your question. You found the name on the web, in Master Da'ud ibn Auda's article "A List of Arabic Women's Names" [1]. That's a fine source, and you can trust that any name listed there is a period Arabic name. If your persona lives in an Arabic culture, then she would have been known by a normal Arabic name. If she lives in English culture, then she would have been known by a normal English name. Women in Arabic society were almost always known as their father's daughters or as their son's mothers. For example, Dananir, daughter of Hassan and mother of Suleyman could have been called or . You can find lists of Arabic masculine names on the web. Go to http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/other.html#arabic and choose the appropriate links. Since you've already chosen an Arabic first name, we assume you want to set your persona in Arabic culture. If that's wrong, please write us again and we'll be happy to give you advice on choosing an English name suitable for your period. I hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 26 Oct 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Da'ud ibn Auda, "A List of Arabic Women's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/arabicwomen.html