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Wednesday, 6 January 2016

Arts & Humanities: Genealogy: “Question: Is "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" a Christian name?” plus 3 more

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Arts & Humanities: Genealogy: “Question: Is "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" a Christian name?” plus 3 more

Question: Is "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" a Christian name?

Posted: 06 Jan 2016 05:53 PM PST

Obama is a Christian, so its a Christian name.

The 44th President of the United States is named after his father, who was a Kenyan economist. Barack is an African name meaning "blessed." It is a form of both the Hebrew name Baruch and the Arabic name Mubarak, which also mean "blessed" and relate to the Arabic barakah. Another common spelling of the name is Barak.

There is no connection between Barack and "barrack," which has both a different spelling and pronunciation. A barrack is a building or group of buildings that lodge soldiers. It comes from the French barraque and the Spanish barraca, which means "cabin or hut."

Obama is an ancient Kenyan surname. The name is found frequently among the Luo, the third largest ethnic group in Kenya. It is believed that the name derived from the root word obam, which means "to lean or bend."

Obama's middle name Hussein is the first name of his paternal grandfather. The name, which is of Arabic origin, means "good" or "handsome one."

Question: Can two completely separate ancestors have the exact same name?

Posted: 06 Jan 2016 05:03 PM PST

Sure. It is hard to tell if you mean
Can two ancestors on different branches of my family tree have the same name?
or
Can two individuals in my family tree have the same name?

If the second, it's almost a dead certainty. Several cultures - Germans, English and Italians - follow or followed the pattern:
First son named after paternal grandfather
Second son after maternal grandfather
Third named after the father

And ditto for daughters, except p. grandmother, m. grandmother and mother.

If John Miller has 6 sons who live long enough to have a son of their own, they all follow the convention, and none of them leave the county, you'll have another 6 John Millers born within 15 - 30 years of each other living in Madison County, and getting confused with each other.

If you have a Smith, Jones, Johnson, Miller ... the 10 most common surnames - on both sides of the tree, there's a pretty good chance you'll have two individuals who are not related (not until you get to the Bronze Age, at least) with the same name, one on each side of the tree. About 90% of the white families in the south, 1864 - 1924, named at least one son "Robert Lee", so if your families are from the south AND have common surnames, there will probably be some duplicates.

Question: Why does my Jewish ancestor have a Scottish surname?

Posted: 06 Jan 2016 05:00 PM PST

It is an Old English language word and means green rising ground, the fact it is a locational name from near Glasgow in Scotland, doesn't make it "Scottish" and surnames are words they come from language, surname were chosen/given in exactly the same way as first names, so I would suggest you look at the British history with Jamaica...ie 1655 Britain invaded and took Jamaica, defeating the Spanish colonists who were there

Someones name NEVER tells you anything at all about who someones ancestors were and doesn't tell you which country they are from, nor the religion they believed in..... in exactly the same way that someone named Mary is not related to the virgin Mary and they all don't come from Bethlehem , names, first and surname =choice from influences around them at the time of taking the word as a name

Question: Where does the last name Desa come from? Is it Spanish?

Posted: 06 Jan 2016 12:24 AM PST

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