Arabic language names

Traditional Arabic language names do not follow the same conventions as the personal names in other languages.

A tradition that preceded the 13th century adoption of surnames, in Europe, was for the last name of a son to be based on their father's name, as when Eric the Red's son was named Lief Ericson. In the Arabic language world every individual has two potential names. At birth they will have a complicated name that includes the name of their father, instead of an inherited surname. In parallel, there is a kind of name that uses the name of their first son. Every Arabic name that begins with "Abu" is a father. Those names start with "Abu", followed by the name of their first son, followed by a differentiator. So, Abu Hamza al Masri tells people this individual has a son named Hamza, and they are from Egypt, as "al Masri" means, the Egyptian.