Some characteristic forenames: Arabic/Muslim Abu, Ahmad, Hassan, Mohamed, Mohammed, Muhamad, Safi, Salah, Saleh, Talib, Usman, Walid. Jewish Hayim, Shimon.

Muslim: abstracted as a surname from Arabic abū ‘father’, a common component of traditional Muslim names. It is used to form the kunya (a type of name meaning ‘father of’, such as Abū-Bakr, literally ‘father of the Young Camel’; see Abubakr ) in combination with the name of a man's child, usually his firstborn son (or hoped-for firstborn). In traditional Muslim society, a man is generally known and addressed by his kunya, rather than by his ism (his personal name), the use of which can seem unduly familiar. A kunya may also be used to form a nickname, as in the case of Abū-Turāb ʿAlī ‘ʿAlī, father of dust’, the kunya of caliph Ali , conferred on him by the prophet Muhammad. — Note: It is possible that in some cases this is counted as an independent surname only in the population figure published by the US Census Bureau.

Muslim and Jewish (Sephardic, from the Maghreb): from the Arabic male personal name ʿAbbū, a pet form of any of the many names beginning with ʿAbd ‘servant’.