That’s a great story!!!!

Mona – I am glad I am not the only one associating Elias with the bible! A very dear girlfriend from a very conservative Gulf country had a child one year ago. When before giving birth she told me the name I did not know what to say. I was kind of “that’s one of the prophets.. but like – a Jewish prophet, right?” – “Yeees, back then..” She pronounces it the Arab way, Elyas.. it sounds nice but I could not help think this was an interesting name choice for a very devout Muslim family. it IS a beautiful name, and I think it is great to step outside the box.. and also beautiful to go back to common heritage in these times of confrontation rather than peaceful coexistence.. I was just very very surprised with the choice.
To me, too, it would have been a Jewish or Christian Arab name. Not so much a typical Muslim name. I felt a bit stupid over asking this, so I am glad I am not the only one who had this in mind

On the topic of simplifying/changing one’s last name when coming to the USA, I know that, historically, a decent percentage of people who immigrated to the US (that’s everyone but Native Americans) have altered their last names to make fitting in easier. Even Irish, Polish, Russians, etc. Although, truth be told, some of the changing happened not by the family’s own choice: at Ellis Island the people checking in new immigrants sometimes did the changing, saying something like “Rumplestillskinski? Your last name’s Rumplestillskinski? Nobody will ever be able to pronounce that and you’ll never get a job. From now on your last name is Rumple.” Rumple was written on the documentation and that was that. There’s a story of a famous designer of clothing for country-western singers who came from Russia with the name Nutya Kotlyrenko. Guess what name they gave him when he got here? Nudie Cohn. Can you imagine… going through life as Nudie? Here’s his info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudie_Cohn

Whatever anyone’s name is, the most important thing is that the person it belongs to loves and respects it. That is everything.

I don’t know about other religions but when people revert to Islam, they can keep their names but they choose to change for different reasons. Maybe they want to be recognized as Muslims or maybe the name they have chosen is a name in the Quran or the Sunnah that inspired them to find Islam. For example, Yusuf Islam became a Muslims after reading a chapter in the Quran called Yusuf (Joseph). All I know is that the prophet’s companions kept their names so its ok for them keep them. I hope their understand that.

Yep last names and where they come from are an interesting topic. Some people that convert to another religion go and change their first and last names. I could never figure out that one. I think a family last name comes with a unique history that tells a story about you family history. Why would anybody change that just because they convert to another religion?

I don’t think it’s just Arabs, I have seen a lot of Asian who change their names legally when they obtain their citizenship but I think they mostly change it because it’s hard for American fellows to pronounce it right but still, that is not a good reason. However, I want to switch my middle name and last name so my first name can be next to my middle name. I just don’t like how the middle is not important at all. Maybe because their middle name is really not their dad’s name.