Your name is your lineage
Somalis use no family surname: a person carries a given name, a father’s name, and a grandfather’s name. Somalis can often recite their paternal line many generations deep — abtirsiinyo — so a name is one link in a memorized chain of ancestors.
Two wells of names
Somali names draw from two wells. Islamic names in Somali form are everywhere — carried with the faith for a thousand years. Beside them stands a proudly indigenous Cushitic stock: Ayaan ("good fortune"), Hodan ("prosperous"), Liban ("blessed land"), Ubah ("flower"), Warsame ("good news"). Both are fully Somali; many people carry one of each.
The naanays: the nickname that wins
Somali culture is famous for the naanays — the nickname that often overtakes the given name entirely. Poets, presidents and grandmothers alike are known by names describing a trait, a story, an event. It is affectionate, sharp-eyed, and permanent: many Somalis are better known by their naanays than by anything official.
Somali names today
With a global diaspora from Minneapolis to London, Somali names travel widely — Ayaan and Hodan are recognized far beyond the Horn. Latin spelling is standard (Somali adopted the Latin alphabet in 1972), making these names among the most portable in Africa.