Omar Family History

Muslim: from the Arabic personal name Omar of uncertain etymology found almost exclusively among Sunni Muslims. It is thought to be related to Arabic ʿāmir ‘prosperous full of life large substantial’ (see Amir). The root word ʿumr means ‘life’.

ʿUmar bin al-Khaṭṭāb was the second of the ‘rightly guided’ caliphs (ruled 634–44); he was known by the title al-Fārūq ‘the distinguisher’ i.e. one who distinguishes between truth and falsehood. Compare Omer and Umar.

Catalan: topographic name for someone who lived by a group of elm trees from the collective form of om ‘elm’.

Slovenian: unexplained. Altered form of Albanian Omari a cognate of 1 above.