Every now and then, I come across someone named "Omar" in the Western hemisphere. Having a brother called Omar, as well as my family claiming descent from another famous Omar, I am intrigued.
The name Omar عمر is a pre-Islamic male proper name. Several of the Prophet's companions were called Omar, the most prominent of which is the second successor to him, Omar Ibn Al Khattab.
In Latin America, the name is popular in the 20th century. For example, we have Omar Sivori from Argentina, Arthur Omar from Brazil, Omar Jose Daal from Venezuela, Omar Cabezas from Nicaragua, Omar Rodriguez Lopez from Puerto Rico, and Omar Romano from Mexico.
Although Moorish influence through Spain is a possibility, it is hard for me to accept that this is the case. No 16th or 17th Spaniard Or Portuguese would like to be associated with a Muslim/Arab name, not to mention that the Inquisition would not approve of this, let alone social norms.
As we move north to the USA, we find that a few African Americans also use the name Omar, such as Omar Gooding, Cuba Gooding Jr. brother, as well as Omar Epps. This is not that surprising knowing that African Americans do use Muslim and Arab names, whether they themselves are Muslim or not.
However, that extends to even white Americans, such as Omar Knedlik, the Kansas City inventor of the ICEE, later to become the 7-Eleven Slurpee.
The most famous white American who went by the name of Omar, is Omar Nelson Bradley, General of the Army of the United States. The M2 and M3 vehicles are named Bradley after him.Now, how would a late 19th century Christian white American gotten the name Omar?
Puzzling, isn't it?
Comments
Anonymous (not verified)
Many arabic names outlasted the spanish inquisition
Sun, 2010/01/03 - 01:42there are so many so called spanish names that are really arabic and many more words for that matter all eupopeans need to credit the moorish invasion for the renaissance before that they had no running water all the beautiful fountains in spain were really for wudu before prayer king ferdinand commissioned sculptures to put lions and all kinds of other images on them after the muslims left even the fact that the spanish are much more hygenic then the rest of europe must be credited to islam math architecture even columbuses navigator was a muslim so there is no doubt that the name lived thru the inquisition just like myriam and fatima and salma ismail ibrahim the spaniards even kept the traditional muslim pronounciations the answer is right in front of your closed eyes
Mohammed Omer Arif (not verified)
Well, the word Omar but not
Tue, 2010/03/16 - 01:34Well, the word Omar but not 3omer is there in Hebrew too, but it is a unit of measurement. You can find it in the bible too. Is there a possibility that the Unit Omar in Hebrew has been taken as a name? Are there people with names like Grams, Meters, Liters etc? Well, I don't really know. Umer Khayyam's theory seems plausible.
Omar M (not verified)
Omar Khayyam
Mon, 2010/07/05 - 11:12The book "SAMARCANDE" by Amin Maalouf explains how many Americans in the 19th century named their sons Omar in honor to Omar Khayyam poetry. "SAMARCANDE" is a biographie or Khayyam.
We can find the name Omar even in scandinavian countries, especially in Iceland where Omar is considered as an Icelandic name.
Anonymous (not verified)
Omar Bradely
Mon, 2010/08/09 - 06:05Omar is an Arab name not islamic, because the most famous knowen was Omar or Umar Ibn Al Khatab, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar the problem for the non Arabic or Semitic is the prononciation of the first charachter, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayin :
ʿAyn is one of the most common letters in Arabic, and one of the most notoriously difficult sounds for Western learners to pronounce. One piece of advice for people trying to make the ʿayn sound is to "sing the lowest possible note, then one lower".
Someone like Gen. Omar N. Bradely to have that name was not something strange, his father was a cultivated man and encouraged even Bradley to read so I believe choosing a name like Omar in an Era where Muslim or Arabo phobia was not evolved yet was normal.
Theories for visigoths is no different than the theory of Alogarithm when given to a german priest and ignoring the founder: Alkhawarizmi the mathematician :)
Khalid
Arab and Islamic
Mon, 2010/08/09 - 11:24Yes, the name Omar is pre-Islamic Arab. Since all Arabs became Muslims very early on, the name Omar and other Arab names because Muslim names by default.
Anonymous (not verified)
What about 9-11 does white
Fri, 2013/03/22 - 19:46What about 9-11 does white people still name their sons Omar or even Jamal.
Anonymous (not verified)
The name Omar is found in the bible
Sat, 2016/01/16 - 05:26I was curious why a famous world war 2 general's name was Omar Bradley. Some people think he was named after the poet Omar Khayyam who was popular even in he west. However i found out that the name Omar is actually found in the Old Testament of the Bible. I beleive that's how a Christians get named Omar. It's not influenced by Islam. The name Omar predates Islam.
León Moch (not verified)
Don't forget Omar Torrijos of
Tue, 2017/06/06 - 22:57Don't forget Omar Torrijos of Panama.
chrystal (not verified)
omar name
Wed, 2017/09/27 - 14:29Omar is only a international name
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