a probably silly question about Arabic names, and such

I'm probably wrong about what I think I know, here. I admit that.

I'm asking this out of ignorance. I admit that too.

Okay here goes.

Doesn't the "al" prefix in Arabic names, or phrases, for that matter, mean "the?"

Such that "al Qaeda," means "the Base?" And, for example, "Hafez al-Assad" (حافظ الأس), means "Hafez, the Assad?" Or Hafez, a member of the Assad family?

Is that part even right?

Whether that is correct, or not, what about "bin," as in "Osama bin Laden?"

For some reason, and I don't know why, I get the instinctive idea that "bin" means "of." As in "Osama of the Laden family."

Is that part right?

Should Osama's family be called the bin Ladens, or the Ladens?

This is just something I'm wondering about on a lonely, boring late night.

Anyone know?

As for "bin," if it is like the Hebrew "ben", then it means "son of."

Edit to add: "al" is a form of "the" in Arabic.

They've taken over the American Bin these days, but before 2001 they always spoke about Ben Laden over there.

It probably does mean "son of", but compare it to the name Wesson. There is hardly an English speaking person who would think of Smith's companion as "the son of Wes". ;)

So I wasn't really too far off.

What about the family name? Would "the Ladens" be correct in English, or "the bin Ladens?"

As for the family name, in English, it would be "the bin Ladens." It would be equivalent to saying, using the other poster above me example, "the Wessons", as opposed to just saying "the Weses." (Do see JMach1's explanation!)

al means "the" and "bin" is like "ben," meaning "son of."

I'm not a linguist or expert, though...

I didn't even know that "ben" means "son of."

Maybe I'll call my buddy a "ben bitch" tomorrow. ;)

How do I know? Because it's a clue in half the crossword puzzles I have ever done. :)

I'm guessing "ibn", "bin" and "ben" are either regional variations, or differences in the Romanization of the Arabic spelling.
Kind of like McDonald and MacDonald. (Son of Donald, of course)

Osama bin Mohammed bin Laden, which means that "Laden" was his grandfather's first name.

Also AFAIK muslims (or at least arabs) have two types of names, the first traces their lineage down the father's side, (like above - X son of Y son of Z etc) but also tribal names, e.g. al-Saud. Not all muslims have tribal names (some may be descended from slaves for instance) but where they do they can also use the tribal name as a surname.

My guess is that the family came from a poor background until OBL's father who was a made a self-made billionaire, so the name Mohammed Bin Laden would have become well-known so the family decided to use the "Bin Laden" part as their surname.

can shift like the sands depending on context.

A student you talk to one week may be 'al' and the next week 'bin'.

Since English spellings are basically phonemes of the Arabic, spelling will also shift.

So, until you wrap your head around the notion of constant change in naming you will want to bang your head against the wall.

So, one thing we always work with here is student #'s.


Oh, and a class I have this semester. Of 18 students, there are 8 Mohammeds.