Names are part of our lives as we are always identified and called with them. There are different ways to choose a name for a child in my beautiful land Afghanistan. Now, in 21st century parents mostly choose modern names for their children however, there are still some people who name their children by their grandparents’ names or by traditional or religious (Arabic) names.
Modern names are those which have not roots in religion or tradition. These names are nowadays popular in Afghanistan:[ Yasamin, Fariba, Farahnaz, Parinaz, Setara, Yegana, Sarah for girls and Arash, Kamran, Farshad, Farshid, Saman for boys.
In general, Afghan people name their children by traditional names, it depends on which faction they belong to( Pashto, Hazara, Tajik, Ozbak, etc). For example, Pashtun names are: Zalmai, Qais, Osman, Maiwand, Khushal, Malang, Pamir for boys and Malalai, Gulqoghtai, Mozhgan, Banafsha for ladies.
Some popular Hazaragi names are: Yawar, Hussain, Mahdi, Sarwar, Aziz, Reza, Ali, Amir, Amad for boys and Fatima, Zahra, Halima, Mariam, Somaya for girls.
Some popular Tajik names are: Behroz, Farhad, Omid, Ashraf, Mateen for boys and Qazal, Bahar, Negar, Nilab, Nosheen for girls.
There are also some names source from Arabic names like: Zahra, Fatima and Maryam for girls and Mohammad, Mahdi, Omar, Hadi, Sajjad, Abubakr and etc.
There are some names combining of two parts usually has Arabic roots. For instance, People choose their favorite name and usually add one of these subordinates after them. They are including: Ullah, Jan, Khan, Ali, Gholam, Abdul, Mohammad, Ahmad, Din, Shah for boys and Zahra, Bibi for girls. Such as: Ahmad Ali, Mohammad Omar, Naqibullah, Abdul Ameer, Bibi Narges, Nazanin Zahra, Yegana Zahra.
In my country, people often call each other by their first names including teachers, doctors or co-workers etc. We rarely call someone by his/her last name except the president, politicians or someone who we value and honor them a great deal. These days some of the people do not name their kids of traditional names any longer. Instead, they christen their kids by choosing English or new names made by culture ministry in Afghanistan.
To show respect and likelihood, people often call each other by adding “jan” at the end of each others’ names. For example, Bahara jan, Fariba jan, Sediqa jan. In general “jan” means dear but in specific and rear times it has other meanings. That’s all. Hope you learned enough about popular names in Afghanistan.
