Help me give a horse a name in Arabic, please?

January 29, 2012 10:56 AM

Naming suggestions for a foal in Arabic?

I am in the process of training an Arabian mare so that she can be bred this year.

I have been told that I will be allowed to choose a name for her foal "as long as it doesn't sound like a venereal disease" so Bucephalus (my affinity is for the Greeks) has already been nixed.

So I am looking for interesting names in Arabic for either a male or female foal. Historical, academic, or funny... but not "cute".

Some info on the mare:
She is a bay (kind of a dark reddish brown coat with a black tail and mane).
Her name is Kameo (I really dislike this kind of name)

Naming parameters (other than the one I mentioned first):

The registry has 16 characters for a name.
Latin letters only.
People try to work the farm name in somehow.
The farm is called: "Getaway Farms".

So Arabic for "Getaway" (as in escape) would be nice to work in... or maybe "getaway baby" (male or female)... or whatever...

Just feeling around for stuff right now!

And... GO!

(thanks, everybody... I can't wait to see what will come out of this question!)

posted by Tchad to Writing & Language (9 answers total)

My mother named a nearly black horse 'coffee' Gawa/Qahwah (http://translate.google.com/#en|ar|Coffee), which means coffee.

You could just play around with google translate to get a name, like, فرار / 'Faraar' (escape - http://translate.google.com/#en|ar|escape).

I just googled the arabic term, to get the romanized version.
posted by Elysum at 11:19 AM on January 29, 2012

And, it's even already under a list of Arabic horse names, as Ferar.
http://www.pyramidarabians.com/names/a-h.html
posted by Elysum at 11:23 AM on January 29, 2012

A lot of stars have beautiful Arabic names. This list gives both the original Arabic and how those names have been westernized over the years. Arrakis ("the dancer") is especially pretty, I think.
posted by judith at 11:29 AM on January 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

"Arrakis" would also serve a dual purpose of being badass to fans of the book/movie Dune.
posted by slide at 12:27 PM on January 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

If a filly:

Ahlem: dream
Badra: brilliant moon (for a grey)
Kenza: treasure
Mounira: luminous
Nedjma: star
Nour: light
Sihème: arrow

If a colt:

Anise: gracious
Chams: sun
Fathi: triumphant victor
Hilal: crescent of the moon
Khaled: eternal
Khalil: companion
Larbi: arabic
Nacer: triumphant victor
Nadir: shining
Sami: noble
Taimim: the perfect one
Tarek: conqueror

First of all you are so busted for linking to Wikipedia instead of a picture of the mare!! Second of all, how can we possibly name an Arab without access to her pedigree?

I love the names/meanings Hilal and Khaled, but they are usually given to the get of those bloodlines.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:21 PM on January 29, 2012

Response by poster: "First of all you are so busted..."

OK! I should have known better! Here she is in the run-in shed and here we are on our way across the pasture to train.

If you want backstory:
She is 5 and was given to my friend as un-trainable. She wouldn't take a halter, had never been ridden, and has a LOT of PTSD stuff going on. She was abused and scared the first two years of her life, but the routine at my friend's place has helped. The thing is that she wants NO direction from anyone. Except me.

Then I meet her and she likes me - I mean REALLY likes me. I don't train horses and haven't been around them since I was maybe 13 or 14, so for this lunatic crazypants horse to all of the sudden follow me around on the farm is really something.

Turns out, I am learning how to train just for her! I go to Wisconsin three days a week from Chicago to work with her. In three weeks I've gotten her pretty settled. This coming week we will probably start working on cinches and saddle blankets. I am not even going to think about trying to ride her until later this Summer and maybe not even then.

Thanks, guys. I am just feeling around right now. I'll look at her papers this coming week and see what's up with the other names in the line.
posted by Tchad at 7:30 AM on January 30, 2012

Sorry to nitpick, but little things are important when naming something in a language you don't speak.

Chams: sun (Should read Shams)
Larbi: arabic (Should read Arabi)
Taimim: the perfect one (Should read Tameem)
posted by dougrayrankin at 9:39 AM on January 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

kosaur (or kosar- girls name) its the special river in heaven- rivers always "go away" or "get people away"
posted by misspony at 11:35 AM on January 30, 2012

Thanks, dougrayrankin.
Since you seem to have a good handle on Arabic, where's your ideas? I'll bet you could come up with some gems.

Cute little mare, Tchad. Good luck working with her. Your plan sounds like an easy introduction. The one thing about Arabs is that they like work, and they can scope things out pretty fast. I'll bet you're on her by mid-summer if you do your groundwork right. Once she trusts you, it will all be a game to her. I would pony my Arab colts out to begin with, and they loved to see the new sights and travel. If they had to carry a rider, so be it, as long as they could GO!
posted by BlueHorse at 7:41 PM on January 31, 2012