We recently asked readers to suggest a name for us to research and write about. The name that received the most requests happens to belong to Barack Obama.
The 44th President of the United States is named after his father, who was a Kenyan economist. Barack is an African name meaning “blessed.” It is a form of both the Hebrew name Baruch and the Arabic name Mubarak, which also mean “blessed” and relate to the Arabic barakah. Another common spelling of the name is Barak.
There is no connection between Barack and “barrack,” which has both a different spelling and pronunciation. A barrack is a building or group of buildings that lodge soldiers. It comes from the French barraque and the Spanish barraca, which means “cabin or hut.”
Obama is an ancient Kenyan surname. The name is found frequently among the Luo, the third largest ethnic group in Kenya. It is believed that the name derived from the root word obam, which means “to lean or bend.”
Obama’s middle name Hussein is the first name of his paternal grandfather. The name, which is of Arabic origin, means “good” or “handsome one.”
Now, what do some of the most common last names in the United States, like Smith, mean? Find out here.
Here’s another chance to suggest names which you would like us to write about. Once again, the name with the most requests will be a blog topic in the near future.
I really want to know FDR, what does each of his name mean?
Verrrrrry Interesting! Thanks for the the info.
[...] WHO put the Barrack in the Bomp de bomb de Bomp? — Who put the BAM in Obamallama Ding Dong — Who put Hussein in the slop de bop de slop — Who put the economy in the dipshedipshitshedipdedip — Who were those guys? — OIL Ringers with crooked eyes — They made BamaLama look mighty good to we. Yeah.–>>Rupert L.T.Rhyme [...]
Brits mispronounce “Barack” as “barrack” (báa.rak) all the time. What kind of arrogance does it take to willfully mispronounce the name of the President of the United States, in order to give it a British twist when it is not British in the slitest? I listen with incredulity to this endless, deliberate mispronunciation on BBC News and other foreign sources. Why hasn’t anybody condemned this?
How about George W. Bush?
Woodrow WILSON!
Hi,
How about, “RODRIGUEZ”, ???
In Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, Bereket means Blessing. Bereket is a common name in that country….it is mostly used for men
You’re kidding right? It’s Franklin Delano Roosevelt you doodle head
What does the name Briana mean? What about Ingrid? Or what about Franklin?
What does the name WORDRAN mean?
According to the Bible the name Barack is of a General who helps Queen Deborah fight and defeat Israelis! Wonder why this website doesn’t refer to it at all?
The name Smith mentioned at the bottom of the link have Dutch origins and when Will…iam of Orange conquered England many Smits went to England in his invading army, hence the name Smith who obviously then went on to the US
“There no connection between Barack…” A website about the English language should really have proper grammar. “There *IS* no connection…”
What about Russel.
I think FDR would also be cool
I was just listening to the audiobook yesterday of Dreams of My Father. Barack himself offers a definition of Obama in the book. According to him, the meaning of Obama has some “warrior” meaning. I don’t recall the detail. It was also the name of his great-grandfather. It’s common in that part of the world for children to take on their father’s or grandfather’s names as family names. Consider the story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She took the name of an atypical grandfather when she came to the West in order to hide from her family.
Thanks……….
Want more meanings of names.
“According to the Bible the name Barack is of a General who helps Queen Deborah fight and defeat Israelis! Wonder why this website doesn’t refer to it at all?” Excellent point, but there is an explanation.
Because it is a different name that should actually be spelled “Baraq,” just like mine should be spelled “Qedem.” It is the same as the last name of the former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak. It means “thunderbolt,” as does the last name of the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca, though it is better to look at his father’s entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilcar_Barca. I do not know Arabic, but it seems to mean the same in Arabic.
What does the name of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad (spelling) mean? What language is it?
I know MacDowell (from MacDougal) means [son of] dark stranger, but I’d love to know the meanings or origins of my other family surnames, like Russell, Pile, and mainly, Peart. I have a spicy family history, but we had a Rabbi in our family associated with the name Russell, which makes things a bit more interesting.
@Ashar Husain : No…both Barak and Deborah in the Bible were Israelis (or Israelites).
Espinoza De Los Monteros… and that’s just my father’s lastname… and no it’s not my grandfather’s and grandmother’s name, my grandmother’s was Braun.
I think FDR would be cool too.
Franklin: Formerly “Frankeleyn”, borrowed English from Middle French “frankeleyn”, meaning “landowner who is free but not of noble origin”.
Delano: Anglicized name (ca, mid-17th century) of the descendants of Philippe de Lannoy. “de Lannoy” itself comes from the town of Lannoy. “L’aunaie” means “alder plantation, from the Latin “altenum”.
Roosevelt: From the Dutch “Van Rosevelt”, or “from the rose field”.
So he was a free landowner, paradoxically from both an alder plantation and a rose field.
Who’d FDR? Wait I can pick any name? Um how about Stephenie Meyer? George Clooney? Colby Cailett? (or however you spell that) 
BTW @SEAN- that’s so rude can’t you see it’s a typo? Give these people a break!
Good info. Thanks!
@ElCraigio
I hardly think the mispronunciation of ‘Barack’ is either ‘deliberate’ or ‘willful’, and it most certainly does not apply to the entirety of Britain (I’m quite sure that BBC News and other broadcasters pronounce it ‘correctly’). It seems a little extreme to ‘comdemn’ such a natural linguistic process; names of people and places are adapted to suit the phonological system of a language variety all the time! Take ‘Iraq’ for example — I’ve heard it as [ıɹak] ‘irak, [ıɹa:k] ‘irahk’ and [aıɹak] ‘eyerak’ – from both Brits and Americans – and I’m sure none of them are entirely accurate! It just tends to depend on what is picked up by the masses, and what suits the existing langage of a country. I appreciate some Brits might not pronounce it how he pronounces it, but that’s hardly a crime!
@bje: Silver didn’t ask what FDR stands for. He asked what the names mean. So there’s no reason to call him a doodle head.
@Ashar Husain: Yes, that is true. But the Hebrew word “barak” means lightning. It’s a different root and different pronunciation from “baruch”, which the article did mention. But seeing as our president got his name from African which got it from Arabic which got it from Hebrew, the spelling and pronunciation were altered along the way, and it ended up pretty much the same as “Barak” (lightning). And, Zvi Kedem, I believe you are wrong to say that it “should” be spelled “Baraq”. It’s not an English word, and not even in the same alphabet, so there’s no “should” for it.
@Julie: I believe that when Ashar Husain said “Israelis” he meant “people who lived in the land of Israel.” But I agree with you that that’s not the best word to use, seeing as the land was not called Israel at the time, as it wasn’t yet inhabited by the Israelites after whom it is named.
@Faith: Who’s FDR? You’ve got to be kidding. I sincerely hope that, if you’re asking that (or at least meant to ask it – in actuality, you wrote “Who’d FDR?”), you are not American.
teddy roosevelt, please.
(do pardon my spelling if its wrong)
Ashar Husain on September 4, 2010 at 7:23 am
According to the Bible the name Barack is of a General who helps Queen Deborah fight and defeat Israelis! Wonder why this website doesn’t refer to it at all?
-it’s actually General Barak and he helped
defeat the canaanite army who oppressed the Israelites.
Ehud Barak was the PM of Israel and currently is minister of defense..
Well i know what my name means AMY= BELOVED which is french, CATHERINE= PURE which is hebrew and BLAIR=BEAUTY/BELL MAKER which is french. So does that make me beloved pure beauty or beloved pure bell maker?
Barack is the name of the largest river in Manipur, India.
@AMY-LOU What? Do you even know french, Amy has no significance in french (that I know of), unless you’re talking about “ami”, which means friend. Blair doesn’t mean beauty nor does it mean bell maker in french. However, if you’re talking about “belle, well then, yes, that means beautiful. I’m not sure where you got those definitions…
Barak is the name of missile system developed in Israel and exported to India.
I like Rupert. He seems cool.
Hii there guys! This is SUCH an interesting website!
I was wondering if any one knew the origin of the surname’Booth’?
It would mean a lot to me if anyone could give me some information.
I’d also like to comment on how nice all of the people are that commented on this. There doesn’t seem to be any abuse at all, unlike other silly websites like youtube.
Especially ‘teapo’, I think that’s a lovely thing you said about Rupert.
All my love Nays xxx
What does sivapalarajah mean?
My friend’s surname is ‘Campbell-Stievenard’ and we’ve always wondered what it means. Can anyone help?
I know what George W Bush means- it means lying @sshole
Mittal!
How about Oprah Winfrey?
Or the last name Tiffany as in Tiffany and Company?
Hello, i am Naomi Booth’s aunt.
i’d really appreciate it if no one answered her questions, as she shouldn’t be on these websites…especially not at this time of night.
Yours sincerley,
aunty lou lou
Hi cosmic,I’ve heard that ‘Stievenard’ is french. Hope that helps!
@ElCraigo
about the supposed ‘mispronunciation’, I don’t think it is possible to ‘mispronounce’ the name Barack, we all have accents and are inclined to pronounce words in certain ways. It does not make our pronunciation wrong, it just makes it different. In fact ‘Barack’ is an anglicized spelling or either the Hebrew or Swahili original names Baruch and Barak; so should we not pronounce it in any of the anglicized ways? If pronunciation is such a big issue why don’t we just say it like his daddy does, hey?
This is certainly my brand new Concerning visited your site. I ran across loads of interesting stuff within your blog. On the a great deal of comments with your articles, Perhaps I’m not the only person! sustain the impressive work.
In Hungarian, barack means peach or apricot.