ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3217
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3217
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17 Jan 2007
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked for help constructing an authentic medieval Persian or
Arabic feminine name, and said you were considering the Arabic name
<Sahar al-Nur> and the Persian variant <Saharnaz Noorangiz> or
<Nourangiz>.  Here is what we have found.

Unfortunately, we have very few resources on Persian names; what we
know of Persian feminine names is contained in source [1].  We were
unable to find any information about the Persian form you asked about.

About the Arabic name you're considering, however, we were able to
find more information.  The Arabic word <sah.ar> (where the <.>
represents a dot below the previous letter) means 'dawn' and refers to
the third third of the night.  While we did not find any examples of
the word <sah.ar> used as a given name, we did find both <Fajr> and
<S.ubh.>, both of which mean 'dawn', used by slave women in Andalusia.
[2,4] The word <fadjr> refers to the morning twilight, and morning
prayer was called both <fadjr> and <s.ubh.> [3]  Given our examples of
<Fajr> (which is an alternate transliteration of <fadjr>) and <S.ubh.>
as names, we believe that <Sah.ar> is also a plausible name for an
Andalusian slave.  We also found examples of Andalusian slave women
who were named <Nuur> 'light', so this would also be a fine choice for
your given name if you wished to develop a slave persona.  We would
not recommend either <Nuur> or <Sah.ar> as a good name for a free
woman, however.  Most free women in Andalusia used names with
religious or historical significance, rather than names with obvious 
literal meanings such as 'light'; we believe this reflects a broader 
pattern in Arabic naming.

The phrase <Sah.ar al-Nuur> means literally 'dawn of the light'.  We
have found a few grammatically similar compounds which were used as
complex given names by royal women in the Timurid and Safavid
dynasties, which ruled Persia toward the end of our period: our
examples include <Khayr al-Nisaa'> 'good of women' or 'best of women',
<Fakhr al-Nisaa'> 'glory of women', <Badii` al-Jamaal> 'the wonder of
beauty/grace', and <Badii` al-Mulk> 'the wonder of the kingdom/state'.
[7,8]  We haven't found any examples of this type of name used by
ordinary women.  This may be an artifact of our limited resources, or
it could indicate actual differences in historical usage: We simply do
not have the data to tell. [5,9,10]  Because our data is limited, we
must stress that our recommendations are in a large degree
speculative.  One might perhaps speculate that the compound <Sah.ar
al-Nuur> could have been used as an honorific name for a concubine or
wife of someone very important.  (Note that though <al-Nuur> in
<Sah.ar al-Nuur> is written with an <l>, it would have been pronounced
as if it were spelled <an-Nuur>.)  However, we do not have enough data
to determine whether <Sah.ar al-Nuur> is a plausible construction, nor
do we know whether such names were used by ordinary women.

We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't
hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have
further questions.  Research and commentary on this letter was
provided by Ursula Georges, Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de
Beaumont, and Eleyne de Comnocke.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 17 January 2007

--
References:

[1] Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Uckelman) & Ursula Georges (Ursula
Whitcher), "Persian Feminine Names from the Safavid Period" (WWW:
Academy of S. Gabriel, 2004) 
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/persian.html

[2] Mari/n, Manuela, _Mujeres en al-Andalus. Reflejos histo/ricos de
su actividad y categori/as sociales._ Estudios
onoma/sticos-biogra/ficos de Al-Andalus, 11. (Madrid: Consejo Superior
de Investigaciones Cienti/ficas, 2000).

[3] Bearman, P., Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, & W.P.
Heinrichs, eds. _Encyclopaedia of Islam_ (WWW: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2006)
http://www.brillonline.nl, subscription access required

[4] As Islam had a strong impact on Arabic naming customs, we don't
believe that the pre-Islamic tribesman named <Dhu Sah.ar> gives any
support for the use of the name by Islamic Arabic women. [3]

[5] Masculine titular names such as <Sayf al-Din> 'sword of the faith'
and <Sayf al-Dawla> 'sword of the state', were often bestowed by the
caliph on noteworthy military and political leaders, and indicated
high status or rank. [6]

[6] Da'ud ibn Auda, "Period Arabic Names and Naming Practices," (WWW:
SCA.org, 2003) http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/arabic-naming2.htm

[7] Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Uckelman) & Ursula Georges (Ursula
Whitcher), "Persian Feminine Names from the Safavid Period" (WWW:
Academy of S. Gabriel, 2004).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/persian.html

[8] Woods, John E., _The Timurid Dynasty_, Bloomingon: Research 
Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1990.

[9] Ursula Georges, "Persian Masculine Names in the Nafah.a^t al-uns"
(WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2004)
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/nafahat/ 

[10] Such compound names were also used by men; Woods (op. cit.) has
<Badii` al-Zamaan> 'the wonder of his age' and <Nuur al-Diin> 'light
of the faith', both of which were used by men other than the Timurids.
We also found the masculine compound name <Fakhr al-Diin> 'glory of
the faith' in our period. [11]

[11] "al-Razi, Fakhr al-Din (1149-1209)" (WWW: Muslim Philosophy.com,
no date)
http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H044.htm