Having gotten lost on the web the other day, I ran into an American Argentine actor called Carlos Alazraqui. Googling the last name revealed some people in the USA, such as Ed Alazraqui and others in Argentina, such as Marcio Alazraqui.
The name Alazraqui is definitely Arabic الأزرقي. It is derived from Azraq أزرق meaning "blue", which is a common appellation in early Arab times for people with blue eyes. Several people are known as Alazraq ("The Blue") because of that trait.
The Alazraqi form derives from this and could mean : one who is descended from a blue eyed person.
One of the first people of note with the family name of Alazraqi is Abu Al Walid Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Azraqi al-Makki, أبو الوليد محمد بن عبد الله الأزرقي المكي who died 223 A.H, a historian who wrote the first known chronicle of the holy city of Makkah.
In modern times, the name is still in use in Saudi Arabia, for example this site is about real estate owned by one such family in south east Saudi Arabia. Before that, the domain name was used by biochemistry professor in Riyadh called Abdullah Alazraqi.
Carlos Alazraqui is said to be of Basque descent. Could the Basque Alazraqui be descendants of Al Azraq?
It would be unusual during post-Reconquista Spain to carry an Arab name, let alone keep it for four centuries afterwards.
Comments
Anonymous (not verified)
Alazraki is Indeed a middle
Wed, 2008/10/22 - 23:38Alazraki is Indeed a middle eastern name, but its a JEWISH surname, its common among turkish jews and among some syrian jews just search alazraki, the morrocan version of this name azoulai is used by Morrocan Jews and has the same meaning
Anonymous (not verified)
"It would be unusual during
Thu, 2014/02/20 - 23:45"It would be unusual during post Reconquista Spain to carry an Arab name, let alone keep it for 4 centuries afterwards."
Why would it be unusual? What about all the Jews who fled Spain down into northern Africa after 1492? Their descendents are called Sephardic Jews today, and have emigrated to other parts of Europe, etc. I saw a conversation thread elsewhere on the Internet where someone said they knew people with the same last name and they were all Sephardic Jews. Also, I found a database on the Web where if you enter this last name it says it shows it as a north African surname, or "Noms des Juifs du Maroc" (French for "Surnames of Moroccan Jews").
Anonymous (not verified)
Alazraki is defiinitely a Sephardic name
Mon, 2014/07/07 - 16:48I have traced my 5 generations of my ancestors living in Izmir, Turkey. They all spoke Ladino and practiced Judaism, including my grandfather who emigrated from Turkey in 1905. I know dozens of Alazrakis in the US, Israel, Mexico and Turkey, all Sephardic Jews. The problem with opinions, based on opinions and not facts is that they tend not to be accurate.
Khalid
Not mutually exclusive
Mon, 2014/07/07 - 17:20Jews in many countries adopted native names, so them adopting Arabic names is not a suprise. In fact it is expected.
Many Sephardic names are Arabic (Abulafia, Alfasi, Maimounides, Ibn Yahya, Hassan, ...etc.), adopted during their stay in Muslim Iberia. Other names are Spanish.
The Alazraqui name is definitely Arabic, and does not contradict being Jewish. In fact being Sephardic supports its derivation.
Anonymous (not verified)
Exactly! My surname is
Mon, 2023/02/20 - 06:43Exactly! My surname is Alazraki, I am jewish, and I 100% agree with Khalid. Like other sephardic surnames, this one too is shared between jews and muslims. People in this forum trying to claim the surname is jewish only, when it clearly has an Arabic meaning, are being strangely and unnecessarily sectarian.
Anonymous (not verified)
A-Azraqui Family name
Sun, 2015/04/26 - 21:30I have a friend living in Juddah Saudi Arabia whose family name is Al-Azraqui. They are Moslem. They say they are originated from the Al-Azraq area in Jordan.
الياس بن يحيى روكر (not verified)
Arab names in post-Catholic conquest Iberia
Thu, 2015/12/10 - 02:31It would not be unusual that a family could keep their Arab name in post-1492 Iberia. The Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, made a treaty with "Boabdil" aka Abu Abdullah which specified that Muslims would not be bothered in their homes and would have freedom of religion. This treaty was more or less honored until the 17th Century, when the infamous Spanish Inquisition changed all that. That's plenty of time for a family to decide to convert, but keep the Arab surname, and migrate to the Spanish overseas empire. Considering how many words in Spanish are of obvious Arab origin (i.e. Almohada, Aceite, Azúcar, Alcázar, Algodón), it should come as no surprise that some Spanish surnames in use in Spain and her former territories are of obvious Arab origin.
Tim (not verified)
Did you find this guy
Mon, 2016/09/05 - 00:05Did you find this guy searching up the fairly oddparents?