Saudi bans 50 names, including 'Rama', 'Alice' and 'Abrar'

Daijiworld Media Network - Riyadh

Riyadh, Mar 15: In a move aimed at safeguarding religious and social traditions of the Kingdom, the interior ministry of Saudi Arabia has banned 50 names, including names like Rama, Abrar, Alice, Elaine, and many more. Parents can no longer use these names for their newborns.

The Civil Status Department has said that out of the 50 names banned, some are not in line with social traditions while others are not appropriate in terms of religion or have a Western origin, as per a report in a Saudi newspaper.

The other names in the list include Binyamin (Arabic for Benjamin), said to be the son of Prophet Yakub (Jacob).

Names like Amir (prince) and Linda have also been banned, on the grounds that they are either contradictory or foreign to Saudi culture or religion, or inappropriate.

In short, names that are against religious sensibilities, or those related to Saudi royalty such as Malek (king) or Malika (queen), or those that are of western or foreign origin such as Alice and Linda, have been banned.

However, there are some names such as Abdul Naser that do appear to fit into any of the above categories, and hence it is unclear why they have been banned. Historically, Abdul Naser was an Arab nationalist ruler of Egypt, who was not in cordial terms with Saudi Arabia.

Names like Abdul Nabi (slave of the Prophet) and Abdul Hussain have been banned, as it is argued that 'Abdul' means 'worshipper of' or 'slave of' and such names hence go against the foremost belief of Islam that there is only one God, and He alone is to be worshipped. Thus most people use the name 'Abdul' with a surname from among the 99 names of Allah, for instance Abdul Aziz.

The list of banned names is as follows:

Malaak (angel)
Abdul Aati
Abdul Naser
Abdul Musleh
Nabi (prophet)
Nabiyya (female prophet)
Amir (prince)
Sumuw (highness)
Al Mamlaka (the kingdom)
Malika (queen)
Mamlaka (kingdom)
Tabarak (blessed)
Nardeen
Maya
Linda
Randa
Basmala (utterance of the name of God)
Taline
Aram
Nareej
Rital
Alice
Sandy
Rama (Hindu god)
Maline
Elaine
Inar
Maliktina
Lareen
Kibrial
Lauren
Binyamin (Arabic for Benjamin)
Naris
Yara
Sitav
Loland
Tilaj
Barrah
Abdul Nabi
Abdul Rasool
Jibreel (angel Gabriel)
Abdul Mu’een
Abrar
Iman
Bayan
Baseel
Wireelam