Persian name

A Persian name, or an Iranian name, consists of a given name (Persian: نام Nâm), sometimes more than one, and a surname (نام‌ خانوادگی).

Given names

Since the Muslim conquest of Persia, some names in Iran have been derived from Arabic, although the majority are Persian in origin. Persian Christians have Arabic names indistinguishable from their Muslim neighbors. They can also use Arabic derivations of Christian names (such as saints' names), or Greek, Neo-Aramaic, or Armenian names, as most Christian Iranians are Iranian Armenians, although there are also Iranian Assyrians and Iranian Georgians.

Many Persian names originate from the Persian literature book, the Shahnameh or "Epic of Kings". It was composed in the 10th century by Ferdowsi and is considered by many the masterpiece of Persian literature. Approximately 10%-15% of all Persian names are from Shahnameh. A few examples are Abtin, Ardeshir, Armeen, Arzhang, Babak (Papak), Bijan, Bizhan, Bozorgmehr, Darab, Dariush (Darius), Esfandiar/Esfandyar, Javid, Faramarz, Farhad, Fariborz, Farshid, Farzad, Sam and Yazdan.

Last names

Before 1919, the Iranian people did not use surnames. An act of the

Sassanid era. Prior to that, a person was often told apart from others by a combination of prefixes and suffixes attached to his or her name. If it was omitted, that person might be taken for someone else.^[2] Since the adoption of surnames, Ahmadi has become the most popular surname in Iran.^[3]

In many cases people were known by the name of the district, city, town, or even the village from which they came by using the locality's name as a suffix, for example: Nuri,

Qarabaghi, Darbandi, Shirvani, Iravani, Nakhjevani, Lankarani

.

Among many other secularization and modernization reforms, surnames were enforced by Reza Shah, following similar contemporary patterns in Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and later in Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser.^[4]