Kunya (Arabic)
The Kunya (Arabic كنية) is one of the four essential components of the Arabic personal name, along with the Ism (actual name), the Nasab and the Nisba. It identifies the name bearer as the "father of so-and-so" (Abū ...) or the name bearer as the "mother of so-and-so" (Umm ...) and is thus a typical teknonym. In the order of the name components the Kunya usually appears in the first place, therefore Gottfried Kosegarten translated the term as "first name".
Originally, the kunya was based on the name of the eldest son; for example, the caliph Umar ibn al-Chattab had the kunya Abū ʿAbdallāh after his son ʿAbdallāh, and the Prophet Muhammad was called Abū al-Qāsim after his first son al-Qāsim. However, some men are known from the first generations whose kunya refers to a female name. The son's name could also be replaced by a noun that emphasized a particular attribute of the name bearer (e.g., Abū Shāma "the one with the birthmark" or Abū Huraira, "the one with the kitten"). Later, the kunya was often used to express wishes for the name bearer or to bring blessings upon him. An example of this is the kunya Abū l-Faraj ("father of joy"), which was worn, for example, by the well-known Arab historiographer Abū l-Faraj al-Isfahānī.
For some individuals, the kunya designation was so significant that it pushed the Ism name into the background and caused it to be forgotten. Well-known examples of this were Abū Tālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib, Abū Lahab, and the Prophet's companion Umm Sulaim, for whom it was not known whether her real name was Rumaisāʾ, Ghumaisāʾ, Rumaitha, Rumaila, Sahla, or Anīfa.
The background for the origin of the Kunya designation is not entirely clear. It is assumed that the name taboo widespread among primitive peoples played a role here. The Kunya would therefore be a means to avoid the use of the actual name (ism) for a person. This is also suggested by the Arabic word kunya itself, which is derived from the same root as kināya ("allusion, indirect expression").
Addressing a person with the kunya was always considered a mark of honor, just as it was considered indelicate to use the kunya when speaking of one's own person. As an honorific, the kunya was initially reserved for "pure" Arabs; only from the Abbasid period onward were non-Muslims who had become Mawālī of Arab tribes allowed to wear it. Some individuals had two kunyas, one for war and one for peace.
Later, kunya terms were compiled in separate dictionaries. One example is the Kitāb al-Kunā ("Book of Kunya Names") by Muslim ibn al-Haddjāj. Some kunyas were so popular that they evolved into an Ism name. The best-known example is Ism Abū Bakr, which derives from the kunya of the first caliph Abu Bakr, whose real Ism was ʿAbdallāh. Other kunya designations have provoked theological debate, such as Abū ʿĪsā ("father of Jesus"), since as according to Christian doctrine, so according to the Islamic view Jesus has no human father. Some bearers of this kunya were subsequently changed to Abū ʿAbdallāh. Muhammad's kunya Abū l-Qāsim caused even greater problems, as there was a Prophet's saying, "Use my Ism name, not, but my kunya" (sammū bi-smī wa-lā tukannū bi-kunyatī). Since Abū l-Qāsim was a very popular kunya, people usually adapted the hadith to reality in such a way that they only derived from it the prohibition of combining the kunya Abū l-Qāsim and Ism Muhammad in one person.
In addition, many animals, plants, places and foods are designated with a kunya. An example of a kunya toponym is the name Abū Qubais for the local mountain of Mecca.
In modern Arabic usage, the term kunya has undergone a change of meaning in that it has become the general term for a family name.
