Variant Transliterations of the Same Arabic Personal Names on Facebook

This study aimed to explore variant transliterations of the same Arabic names in English by Arabic native speakers on Facebook; to find the distribution of English variant transliteration of Arabic names; the types of variant transliterations produced by Arabic speakers; the strategies they utilize in transliterating their names to English; and the sources of the variations in the English transliteration of the same Arabic name. A sample of 112 names with a total of 332 variant transliterations and 1139 occurrences (repeats) was collected from the author’s friends on Facebook. It was found that 59% of the Arabic names have 2 variant transliterations in English and 26% have 3 variants transliterations. Names with the highest number of variant transliterations are الجرف (35), محمد (7); محمود, يوسف, شريف, (6); نور نورة شيماء (5).  Variants with the highest occurrences are الجرف (154), محمد (153); احمد (90); Ali (67); محمود  (53); هناء &  السيد(19).  In 97% of the names in the sample, the variants differ in how the vowels/diphthong are represented in the English transliteration because Arabic and English differ in the number of vowels, vowel quality and vowel articulation. Arabic has 3 long vowels, 3 short vowels and 2 diphthongs, whereas English has 12 vowels and 8 diphthongs. In transliterating their names, Arabic consonant sounds for which two English graphemes exist were spelled differently. There are variations in transliterating Arabic surnames with the Arabic definite article /al/. In 18% of the names in the sample, the subjects transferred the Arabic spelling to the English transliteration of their names. The short vowel was not represented in the English transliteration. In 15%, the subjects transliterated their names the way they pronounce them in their local dialect (El-Garf in Egypt; Aljerf in Syria and Aljuruf in Palestine), not as the name is pronounced in Standard Arabic. In 17%, the subjects with a background in French transferred the French phoneme-grapheme representations of vowels and consonants to the English transliteration (Hicham, Aouatef). The study gives some recommendations for the correct transliteration of Arabic names to English.