WHAT’S IN A NAME? …ROSANNE KLASS….VERY INTERESTING FACTS
An eagle eyed and very knowledgeable reader, Rosanne Klass author of many marvelous books…see
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=rosanne+klass&x=17&y=22
sent the following information on the name Kahn :
re Suhail Khan (and others):
Have you ever noticed how many men there are named “Khan”? In reports on Pakistan and Afghanistan, nearly every man is named “Khan” — much more common than Smith or Jones is here.
Well, there’s a reason — Khan is NOT A NAME!! It’s a TITLE, used in Pakistan, Afghanistan, parts of Iran and Central Asia (but not in Arab countries) like Mr. Or Esq. , since it identifies the person so addressed as someone of status, property (esp.; real estate holdings), dignity, position, etc.
Not every man is a “khan” — e.g., landless peasants are not.
Mr. …Khan = Mr. Mr. — or Mr. Sir
Suhail Khan is Mr. Suhail.
Just as Genghis Khan would be Mr. Genghis. (Or, if you didn’t want him to chop your head off, probably General Genghis or His imperial Majesty Genghis.)
You are not the only one making this error — almost every journalist, press or TV, is making it. Including the NYT & the WSJ. But it is nonetheless an error.
But one thing should be noted — in response to the almost universal misunderstanding use of “Khan” as a last name, many PaKS & Afghans have just given up and started letting it be used. I imagine they got tired of correcting all those journalists again and again.
Oddly enough, nobody seems to have noticed that almost everybody seems to be named “Khan”. Wouldn’t they notice if every man in the U.S. seemed to be named “Mister” (John Mister, Harry Mister, Sol Mister, etc.) or Esquire (Steve Esquire, George Esquire, etc.) ?
Nor do they notice that that no women are named Khan– notg even wives & daughters, e.g. Benazir Bhutto — though her father was Bhutto Khan to Pakistani. )
(In India, it seems to be mostly used by Muslims — I never heard Nehru referred to as Nehru Khan.)
This may amuse you: Many years ago, 5 totally unrelated Afghan students (later, friends & acquaintances of mine and in one case prime minister) came to the U.S. — the first to come here for college. Docking in NYC, they waited patiently on shipboard for someone who was supposed to meet them, while their ship’s purser was going around the decks, futilely calling for “the Khan brothers” — which they of course ignored, since it didn’t seem to refer to them. It took an hour or so before an Afghan diplomat arrived and found them.
RK
Land of the High Flags: Afghanistan When the Going Was Good – Paperback (July 25, 2007) by Rosanne Klass
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