h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In almost every single news report I hear mentioning the former Palestinian Prime Minister, he is referred to as "Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen." And frankly, I find it annoying.

I never, ever hear of "Tony Blair, also known as Derek Thompson", or "George W. Bush, also known as Dave Bennett" or even "Ariel Sharon, also known as Sol Goldberg".

What is going on with this guy that he apparently has two names? It doesn't appear to be a title, just another, completely different personal name. He's also the only person I've ever heard it apply to, so it's not like it seems to be a pervasive cultural or religious thing.

Anyone know why he has two names?

H.

Its is a cultural thing. It is common among Arabs to adopt an Nome de Guerra. Mahmoud Abbas is his given name Abu Mazen is his Nome de Guerra.

Yassar Arrafat is also known by the name Abu Ammar.

Donald

Two further questions, then:

What is a "Nome de Guerra"? It sounds like "war name", which sounds like an interesting concept for people who keep bleating about wanting peace...

And if Yasser Arafat has one, how come no news organisation ever mentions it? Why is Abu Mazen the only one I can remember ever receiving the "also known as" treatment?

H.

It is a war name. Considering the Palatinians have been at war for the last fifty years, its hardly surprising.

You will have to ask the media editor's for the answer to the second question.

Ignorance, stupidity, selectivity are all reasons that spring to mind.

Donald

Perhaps its something about rebels and revolutionaries. Lenin (Vladimiar Ilyanov), Stalin (Joseph Dzhugashvili), and Trotsky (Leon Bronstein) all had nom de plumes. And yes, I did have to look some of those up.

According to his autobiography, Nelson Mandela has an number of different names though I can't remember any specific examples, though I'm fairly sure that Nelson was a name he was given at school.

How about George Bush, known as "Dubya".

Abu means "Father of", so maybe he is also known after one of his offspring.

Similarly Bin is "Son of"

I understood that Arabs generally have four names. First name, father's first name, grandfather's first name, and family name.

So Ali Mohammad Hesham Al-Sharif means Ali, son of Mohammad, grandson of Hesham, in the family/clan/tribe Al-Sharif. He would generally use just Ali Al-Sharif.