Semitic Names In American History

[Gary Sisco]

I got this link from Sullivan:

Informed Comment
Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute


Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes


At Cincinnati, Bill Cunningham, according to the LAT, who "introduced presidential candidate John McCain at a rally here today accused Barack Obama of sympathizing with 'world leaders who want to kill us' and invoked Obama's middle name -- three times calling him 'Barack Hussein Obama.' " John McCain repudiated Cunningham's low tactics and said that using the middle name like that three times was "inappropriate" and would never happen again at one of his rallies.

I want to say something about Barack Hussein Obama's name. It is a name to be proud of. It is an American name. It is a blessed name. It is a heroic name, as heroic and American in its own way as the name of General Omar Nelson Bradley or the name of Benjamin Franklin. And denigrating that name is a form of racial and religious bigotry of the most vile and debased sort. It is a prejudice against names deriving from Semitic languages!

Christian, Western heroes have often been bequeathed Middle Eastern names. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the medieval Spanish hero, carried the name El Cid, from the Arabic al-Sayyid, "the lord."

Barack and Hussein are Semitic words. Americans have been named with Semitic names since the founding of the Republic. Fourteen of our 43 presidents have had Semitic names (see below). And, American English contains many Arabic-derived words that we use every day and without which we would be much impoverished. America is a world civilization with a world heritage, something Cunninghamism will never understand.

Barack is a Semitic word meaning "to bless" as a verb or "blessing" as a noun. In its Hebrew form, barak, it is found all through the Bible. It first occurs in Genesis 1:22: "And God blessed (ḇāreḵə ) them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."

Here is a list of how many times barak appears in each book of the Bible.

Now let us take the name "Hussein." It is from the Semitic word, hasan, meaning "good" or "handsome." Husayn is the diminutive, affectionate form.

Barack Obama's middle name is in honor of his grandfather, Hussein, a secular resident of Nairobi. Americans may think of Saddam Hussein when they hear the name, but that is like thinking of Stalin when you hear the name Joseph. There have been lots of Husseins in history, from the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, a hero who touched the historian Gibbon, to King Hussein of Jordan, one of America's most steadfast allies in the 20th century. The author of the beloved American novel, The Kite Runner, is Khaled Hosseini.

But in Obama's case, it is just a reference to his grandfather.

It is worth pointing out that John McCain's adopted daughter, Bridget, is originally from Bangladesh. Since Hussein is a very common name in Bangladesh, it is entirely possible that her birth father or grandfather was named Hussein. McCain certainly has Muslim relatives via adoption in his family. If Muslim relatives are a disqualification from high office in the United States, then McCain himself is in trouble. In fact, since Bridget is upset that George W. Bush doesn't like her "because she is black," and used her to stop the McCain campaign in South Carolina in 2000, you understand why McCain would be especially sensitive to race-baiting of Cunningham's sort. The question is how vigorously he will combat it; he hasn't been above Muslim-taunting in the campaign so far. (And, the McCains really should let Bridget know that she is Asian, not "black." The poor girl; Bush and Rove have done a number on her, and Cindy's confusion can't help.)

The other thing to say about grandfathers named Hussein is that very large numbers of African-Americans probably have an ancestor ten or eleven generations ago with that name, in what is now Mali or Senegal or Nigeria. And, since so many thousands of Arab Muslims were made to convert to Catholicism in Spain after 1501, many Latinos have distant ancestors named Hussein, too. In fact, since there was a lot of Arab-Spanish intermarriage, and since there was subsequent Spanish intermarriage with other European Catholics, more European Americans are descended from a Hussein than they realize. The British royal family is quite forthright about the Arab line in their ancestry going back to Andalusia.

Obama, being a cousin of Dick Cheney on one side and having relatives in Kenya on the other, is just more and more typical of the 21st century United States.

So, anyway, Obama's first two names mean "Blessing, the Good." If we are lucky enough to get him for president, we can only hope that his names are prophetic for us.

Which brings me to Omar Bradley. Omar is an alternative spelling of Umar, i.e. Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph of Sunni Islam. Presumably General Bradley was named for the poet Omar Khayyam, who bore the caliph's name. Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, in the "translation" of Edward FitzGerald, became enormously popular in Victorian America.

Gen. Omar Bradley, who bore a Semitic, Muslim first name, and shared it with the second Caliph of Sunni Islam, was the hero of D-Day and Normandy, of the Battle of the Bulge and the Ruhr.

Would Mr. Cunningham see Omar Bradley as un-American, as an enemy because of his name?

What about other American heroes, such as Gen. George Joulwan, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander of Europe? "Joulwan" is an Arabic name. Or there is Gen. John Abizaid, former CENTCOM commander. Abizaid is an Arabic name. Abi means Abu or "father of," and Zaid is a common Arab first name. Is Cunningham good enough to wipe their shoes? Is he going to call them traitors because they have Arabic names?

What about Congressman Darrell Issa of California? ("`Isa" means Jesus in Arabic). Former cabinet secretary Donna Shalala? (Shalala means "waterfall" in Arabic).

I won't go into all the great Americans with Arabic names in sports, entertainment and business, against whom Cunningham would apparently discriminate on that basis. Does he want to take citizenship away from Kareem Abdul Jabbar [meaning "noble the servant of the Mighty"] and Ahmad Jamal [meaning "the most praised, beauty"]? What about Rihanna ["sweet basil," "aromatic"]? Tony Shalhoub [i.e. Mr. Monk]?

Let us take Benjamin Franklin. His first name is from the Hebrew Bin Yamin, the son of the Right (hand), or son of strength, or the son of the South (yamin or right has lots of connotations). The "Bin" means "son of," just as in modern colloquial Arabic. Bin Yamin Franklin is not a dishonorable name because of its Semitic root. By the way, there are lots of Muslims named Bin Yamin.

As for an American president bearing a name derived from a Semitic language, that is hardly unprecedented.

John Adams really only had Semitic names. His first name is from the Hebrew Yochanan, or gift of God, which became Johan and then John. (In German and in medieval English, "y" is represented by "j" but was originally pronounced "y".) Adams is from the biblical Adam, which also just means "human being." In Arabic, one way of saying "human being" is "Bani Adam," the children of men.

Thomas Jefferson's first name is from the Aramaic Tuma, meaning "twin." Aramaic is a Semitic language spoken by Jesus, which is related to Hebrew and Arabic. In Arabic twin is tau'am, so you can see the similarity.

James Madison, James Monroe and James Polk all had a Semitic first name, derived from the Hebrew Ya'aqov or Jacob, which is Ya`qub in Arabic. It became Iacobus in Latin, then was corrupted to Iacomus, and from there became James in English.

Zachary Taylor's first name is from the Hebrew Zachariah, which means "the Lord has remembered."

Abraham Lincoln, of course is, named for the patriarch Abraham, from the Semitic word for father, Ab, and the word for "multitude," raham,. Abu, "father of," is a common element in Arab names today.

So, Mr. Cunningham, Barack Hussein Obama fits right in this list of presidents with Semitic names. In fact, we haven't had one for a while. We are due for another one.

A blessed and good one.

p

[groover]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Barack is a Semitic word meaning "to bless" as a verb or "blessing" as a noun. In its Hebrew form, barak, it is found all through the Bible. It first occurs in Genesis 1:22: "And God blessed (ḇāreḵə ) them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."

The hebrew word is normally spelled "baruch", with that guttural "ch" sound that many people can't pronounce properly.

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Mr. Cunningham did not take McCain's disavowal kindly. I heard him on NPR(!) saying he'd support Clinton.

[Scott Dolan]

Not only that, but last night they had interviewed Cunningham asking if he thought McCain should apologize? He said "sure, he should apologize for that. He should apologize for McCain/Feingold. He should apologize for McCain Kennedy...blah blah blah...

What a dipshit.

[hornplayer]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

Mr. Cunningham did not take McCain's disavowal kindly. I heard him on NPR(!) saying he'd support Clinton.

Lucky Hillary!

[Gary Sisco]

That'll show 'em!

Nitwit.

[Gary Sisco]

Hey, at least Obama was born in the galdanged US of fuckin' A, dammit.

[groover]

With all these Republicans vowing to vote for Hillary, is it still Obama who polls as having a better chance of beating McCain?

[Scott Dolan]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Hey, at least Obama was born in the galdanged US of fuckin' A, dammit.

Who are you kidding?

He was born in Hawaii!!

[Jon Abbey]

Originally Posted by groover

The hebrew word is normally spelled "baruch", with that guttural "ch" sound that many people can't pronounce properly.

although of course that's a transliteration, so an approximation.

[groover]

Originally Posted by Jon Abbey

although of course that's a transliteration, so an approximation.

True, but "barak" is a worse approximation of the Hebrew pronunciation.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Barack Hussein Obama fits right in this list of presidents with Semitic names. In fact, we haven't had one for a while. We are due for another one.

Yeah, the last one was Jimmy Carter. (James is from the same Hebrew cognate as Jacob).

So if Barack Hussein-in-the-Membrane wants to run as ANOTHER JIMMY CARTER (snicker snicker), go right ahead.

[Gary Sisco]

Hey, at least 'at McCain has an American name, dammit.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Hey, at least 'at McCain has an American name, dammit.

I don't know, Gary. There's a John or two in the Bible. (Take that any way you like).

Come to think of it, that article you posted is pretty silly in its insistence that Barack's name problem is because his middle name is semitic. There is semite and there is semite, can I get an amen? The problem isn't that Hussein is a Biblical name (it isn't), and it isn't that Hussein is a Jewish name (it isn't), and it isn't really that Hussein is an Arabic name, although that could naturally cause a leftist politician some problems in an election. The problem is that Hussein is a famous name.

If Harry Truman's middle name had been Hitler, instead of S., there might have been some comments made. Not because Hitler is an Indo-European name, not because Hitler is a German name, although that might have discomfitted a politician running in 1948, but because--hey wait a second, isn't Hitler the name of the brutal tyrant recently deceased that we were at war with?

The author says that equating "Hussein" with Saddam Hussein is like equating "Joseph" with Joseph Stalin. No it isn't. It is like equating "Stalin" with Joseph Stalin. Although if B.O.'s middle name was "Saddam," it would not be less ridiculous.

[Gary Sisco]

It was posted as silliness, Monte. I'm glad you managed to catch on.

The whole bit about names is silly.

A week after 9/11, a local kid was arrested for making bombs (his teacher mother bought the chemicals he needed as "school supplies"). We first heard about it from one of Bronwyn's homehealth aids, who had a French name, first and last. We asked who the kid was and she said she couldn't remember "but it wasn't an American name." It's become a standard joke at our place. (Kid's name was German, as it turned out.)

Hey, come to think of it, Bronwyn's name isn't American, either. Fuckin' Welsh.

The only actually American names would be near unpronouncable for most. I'm related by marriage to the Blackfeet tribe, in Montana. I couldn't begin to pronounce their non-"Americanized" names.

[Hudson Boy]

During WWII, popular Western Swing bandleader Adolph Hofner had trouble because of his name's similarity to Hitler, so he moved from Texas to California and changed it.

[Monte Smith]

Hofner's a beautiful name!

The other side of the silliness, Gary, is to consider that Barack Hussein Obama's name is a political plus, at least if you believe it may have a positive impact on the tribes abroad who are liable to be jumping up and down and shaking their fists about the American imperium.

"Hussein," they'll be saying in their guttural dialect, "why that chap is one of us!"

Now the problem here for B.O. is that if you read his nominal biography, he indeed gets the Hussein from his Muslim roots. But he's fallen away from the faith of his father, which makes him something of an apostate. An apostate commanding the legions of the Great Satan is not an image likely to ameliorate the fervor of our Mohammadan enemy. And I don't know what the Koranic penalty is for falling away from the faith of one's father, but it's not a stretch to suppose it might involve the removal of a necessary body part.

[Gary Sisco]

The number of people who give a fuck aren't enough to matter, Monte. A guy's name is his name. That's all.

[groover]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

And I don't know what the Koranic penalty is for falling away from the faith of one's father, but it's not a stretch to suppose it might involve the removal of a necessary body part.

[groover]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

The number of people who give a fuck aren't enough to matter, Monte. A guy's name is his name. That's all.

I'd like to agree with Shakespeare that a rose would smell as sweet, but I don't think another Hitler or Stalin would get a fair shake,either.

[groover]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

Hofner's a beautiful name!

[Gary Sisco]

Breaking with the religious sect of one's father is an American tradition, and apparently the longterm trend:

Study: Nearly half of Americans changed their religion

10:03 PM CST on Monday, February 25, 2008
By JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News


Religiously speaking, America is not so much a melting pot as a mixing bowl, according to a new study released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Not only do Americans belong to a broad and expanding variety of religions and denominations, but close to half of U.S. adults have changed faith traditions at least once. And more than a third of married couples include spouses who say they belong to different religious groups.

The massive new survey confirms trends suggested by earlier polls: The nation remains generally religious, but many Americans are willing to explore beyond the faith in which they were raised.

The report suggests a higher volume of religious churn than earlier surveys have shown. And that, researchers say, could be because of different polling methods or changes in how people are choosing their religious beliefs.

"It is a very competitive marketplace," said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum. "If you rest on your laurels, you will be history."

Pew's pollsters talked last year to more than 35,000 adults. The broad results are similar to those in previous studies: Almost 80 percent of American adults say they are some kind of Christian. Almost 5 percent say they belong to another faith – including all the Jews, Muslims, Bahais and Buddhists. The rest, a bit more than 16 percent, say they are unaffiliated with any particular religion.

The unusually large size of this survey allowed the researchers to break down numbers for individual states and for relatively small religious groups.

Texas has a higher percentage of evangelical Protestants (34 percent) than the nation (26 percent) and a smaller percentage of adults who say they are religiously unaffiliated (12 percent) than the 16 percent national figure. And 42 percent of Texans said they had shifted religious traditions, just under the national total of 44 percent.

Hindus are too small a group to measure in most polls, representing less than one-half of 1 percent of the population. But this survey is powerful enough to estimate that they are the best educated religious group in America. Almost half the Hindus in America have completed postgraduate work, compared with the national total of 11 percent.

The Pew survey used some Spanish-speaking pollsters, but researchers acknowledged that they could not estimate how many illegal immigrants contacted by the poll chose not to participate. Since most illegal immigrants are Hispanic and most Hispanics are Catholic, a significant undercount could have skewed some of the analysis released Monday.

The poll asked people what faith they were raised in and what they currently follow. Based on the answers, the fastest-growing religious category in America is "unaffiliated." Less than half that group said they had been raised that way.

But the survey also indicates that many Americans aren't all that focused on the particular variety of church they attend.

"A significant percentage of Americans have only a vague denominational identification [that is, they tell us they are 'just a Baptist' or 'just a Methodist']," according to the report. "In fact, many Americans are simply unclear about the religious group to which they belong."

Other highlights of how Americans are switching where they worship – or where they don't:

•Almost 70 percent of Catholics were raised Catholic.

•About six in 10 Baptists and Lutherans stayed with the church of their childhood, compared with less than half of the Methodists, Pentecostals or Presbyterians.

•And more than half of those raised with no particular religion ended up joining with some tradition as an adult.

But most Christians stay Christian. And evangelical switchers are more likely to move to another evangelical tradition – such as Southern Baptist to Assemblies of God – than mainline members are to move to another mainline church – such as Episcopal Church to United Methodist.

Many faiths teach that membership numbers don't have sacred significance. But the faithful, at least in America, often are intent on getting an accurate count, said John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Center and an expert on religion and politics.

One reason for the interest is political, he said. Larger groups have more inherent clout. But people also just like to think that others agree with them, he said.

"If one is really focused on the hereafter, then why would one care?" Mr. Green said. "But all of us live in the present, on our way to the hereafter."

************

And of course they're not accounting here for the unbelievers who broke faith, or the new agers who did and now choose aspects of one silliness or another and combine them a la carte. A-and them pagans.

I'm an atheist but I also have a splash of animism in the mix.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by groover

I'd like to agree with Shakespeare that a rose would smell as sweet, but I don't think another Hitler or Stalin would get a fair shake,either.

I'm Marvin Hitler and I approved this message.

[Gary Sisco]

I had some neighbors in the old neighborhood whose name was Hipler. You can imagine, growing up, the endless tauntings and teasings.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

You can imagine, growing up, the endless tauntings and teasings.

You ever see the SNL skit with Nicholas Cage as the expectant father who, with his wife, is trying to come up with a good name for his kid? I don't remember it exactly, but it's like the wife suggests "Pat" and Cage goes, "We can't call him Pat. Think of what they'll say on the playground. Pat. Patty. Patty Fatty. Bat-faced fatty Patty who's your daddy?" "Oh. OK. How about Jerry." "Come on, honey. Think! Jerry, Jerry, he's a fairy." The wife goes, "Darling, you're being weirdly sensitive about this name thing, like he's going to be taunted on the playground no matter what we call him. What's your problem, honey?" "Oh, I dunno."

Doorbell rings.

"I've got a package for an Asswipe?"

Cage: "It's pronounced Oss-Wee-Pay!"

[Gary Sisco]

Good one. I haven't seen SNL in many years.

My mother was an RN and had a patient once whose last name was Faught. None of the nurses knew how to pronounce it and didn't want to offend.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Good one. I haven't seen SNL in many years.

My mother was an RN and had a patient once whose last name was Faught. None of the nurses knew how to pronounce it and didn't want to offend.

If the patient could speak I should think the solution would have been to ask.

[Gary Sisco]

Well, of course, they did, but not right away. It wasn't like they could just see the name on the chart as they would for a Hussein or Thomas.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Pete C

If the patient could speak I should think the solution would have been to ask.

Not necessarily. The patient might have been a vulgarian who spoke only obscenities.

[Gary Sisco]

Just be thankful the patient wasn't Welsh. No one can pronounce that shit.