I've gotten lots of flak for spelling my son's name as Humza. Most people are used to spelling it Hamza. Can't really blame them, especially since most books refer to the Prophet's (saw) uncle as Hamza. And also, Sh. Hamza Yusuf spells it that way.
But I just don't get it.
The name is pronounced HUM-za, as in hummingbird. It's not HAM-za as in hamster.
But for some reason, people are retarded and insist that it's spelled with an A. Some folks who I will not name but are male relatives of my wife deride my spelling and mock its pronunciation by making an ugly face and saying something like 'Hey look, its HOOOOME-za's father. How is HOOOME-za?'
They stink.
You see, I don't want bullies (or rude coworkers) coming up to my son and mocking him 'Hey HAM-za the HAM-lover, did you eat HAM today? HAHA. Your dad really messed up your name...HAHA.'
You're probably thinking 'What kind of person thinks this way? So far into the future?' Well, its people with vision. Visionary folks have foresight, hindsight, insight, and outsight. All kinds of sights. Normal people just wouldn't understand.
Anyways, I digress. This foolishness ends now. I will leave it up to my esteemed readership to once and for all decide the fate of my son. Enter your suggestions as comments and I will count the votes in 2 days. I shall vow to follow the democratically suggested spelling of my son's name.
I trust most of you are intelligent and will see things my way. Otherwise, feel free to jump on the Hamza bandwagon and choose the way of the intellectually malnutritioned.
It's your choice.
Oh btw, I have veto power.
Yeah, and uhmmm...the wife doesn't know about this, so let's keep this whole vote thing between us. She's not democratically-inclined like that...being Arab and all...
Grooming gangs, rape and racism
6 days ago
39 comments:
"She's not democratically-inclined like that...being Arab and all..."
Hillarious!
I'm used to spelling it as 'Hamza' but 'Humza' sounds right too.
I'm not voting.. Democracy is haram!
:D
I go by Humzah...
Ma'Salaam & Duas
i agree with humzah since there is a ta marboota at the end.
As a Hamza, i vote Hamza....
However, i have an Arab friend who is also called Hamza, but he spells his name Hamzah
Salaam, I'd just like to say that in Arabic, the vowel is actually 'a', therefore it is not spelled, nor pronounced 'Humza' at all.
I would definitely say Humza. Only because it undermines the arabic-transliteration power hegemony that exists amongst Moslems.
As can be seen by the comment above my first comment.
by using a "u" it would mean the "haa" has a damma. But the "haa" has a "fatha" which is why "hamza" makes more sense.
But "humzah" looks and sounds cooler I have to say.
oh yea here's a proof:
humus ..HUUUU mus....HUU
I think naming your son Humza will add confusion to something where there isn't any. I have yet to find a muslim not pronounced the name correctly.Humza looks like it should produced HOOMza and naming your son that might invite strange connections to Humazah(the slanderer).
not a big deal anyway or something to fret over because english pronunciations and spellings are never accurate for example aisha or aysha.
haha, u dork
Hamza. If you want to open a real can of worms, try "A'ishah," the name of my daughter. ;)
I agree. I don't know why people spell it with an 'A'. I thought it was always with a 'U', until recently.
AA-
Thank you everyone for making this even more confusing. Your assistance is definitely NOT appreciated!
Now its not just Humza vs Hamza, but Humzah vs. Hamzah! I've decided to simplify everything and call my son Bob. So from now on, please refer to me as Abu Bob.
BTW, the Humus argument is weak, cuz whenever a westerner reads it, he pronounces it HUMus (as in HUMmingbird). What does that tell you???
not that you want a Bollywood movie to support your argument but there IS an Indian movie called Hum Tum and the Hum is pronounced the way you want it and everyone knows what it is.
So maybe you should spell it 'Hum Za'.
:-P
AA- Mezba,
You may be onto something here... We can all rebel against the 'arabic-transliteration power hegemony' (Sophister's term) by turning to the wise ways of Bollywood!!
I'll start this revolution by naming my next kid Sholay!!
im dying laughing, on the inside ofcourse.
sholay!
You're amazing! Love your jokes. Keep it up.
Humza my name is Humza! Vote for Humza!
Hey I spell and write my nam with "Humza" I also got objected by my teachers but no one has authentic proof !!! So for me it doesn't matter it's HUMZA or HAMZA!!! I write my name with "u" and it's bcause on a speaking software I tried my name and I came to know that with "Hamza" the sound was like HAM-za and then I treid e and u . "u" was much better so I started to write my name with U. . . .
Sorry Mr. Naeem we are not scholars but students. You should refer some experienced Arabic scholars to figure it out!!!
I vote for Humza, since that's already his name. :).
There's no need to change it.
My wife's cousin's son's name is Humza and I couldn't agree with you more.
My husband being Pakistani Muslim and I had the same discussion surrounding the correct spelling of Humza in English. I was against the spelling Hamza due to the simple fact that Americans would pronounce it HAM-za. It came down to spelling the name Humza or Humzah. I liked the added h at the end, however we finally agreed to leave it off to not add any confusion. I completely agree with you on this!!!!
I googled "Humza" because that is my son's name (he is 3 yrs old) and I chose to spell it with a "u" also & this came up. Pretty much for the same reasons you did..I didn't want him called "HAMza" or "HAMburger" or asked do you want some "HAM". My name is "Irum" and my name is butchered by people reading it. I always wished my parents spelled it with an "E". I am worried it will be pronounced "Hoomza" when read aloud for the first time. By the way, is your Humza a handful? All boys with that name seem to be, mine is!
AA- Irum,
Yeah, my son is also a handful. Definitely has something to do with the name. lol.
Thankfully he's almost 10, so I'm hoping the worst is behind us.
Insha'Allah. :-)
Why would you butcher a beautiful name by spelling it "Humza". It is not pronounced "HUMza" like "hummingbird". Nor is it pronounced "HAAMza" like "hamburger".
It's a short "a" sound. Think "Hajj". It's neither pronounced "HUjj" nor "HAAjj" but "HAjj". Short, simple, and beautiful. And Hamza is no different.
AA- Anon,
"It is not pronounced "HUMza" like "hummingbird"."
But it is!! Its pronounced EXACTLY like that.
The 'a' has a short and a long pronunciation. Think of the cap and cape. When using A in writing out Humza, you are forcing a non-Arabic speaker to pronounce it with the short a, as in HAM.
If people are insistent on using the A, then it would be better to double it, as in Haamza. The same way some people write Islaam.
actually I put my son's name Hunmzah as it is in hunmble.If you will pronounce it will utter in the same phonic as arabic.
Well i have mostly seen people writing the name as 'Hamza',but i prefer writing my name as 'Humza' because i think that it makes a better pronunciation of the name which is actually HUM-za not HAM-za.
Anon/Humza, you are a very wise man! :-)
My name is Humza; it looks so much better in writing than Hamza.
I agree with Humza because (A.) My name is Humza (B.) If Hamza Ham (then)za it looks nonsense. but Humza sound and look great and brave. Even it's sound Bold and Brave.
Naeem, thanks for bringing this up. My son's name is spelled "Humza". We had a similar debate. He is eight and happy with it so far :-)
Hey, my name is Humza. It used to be spelled Hamza initially because I was born in Pakistan and it wasn't a problem there but in Texas people pronounced it HAM-za..so I started writing Humza instead of Hamza...that did help a bit but alot of people would pronounce it HOOOM-za which annoyed the hell out of me but gave me a reason to poke fun at them at their illiteracy. Later I didn't have any problem with it because I think people have become more familiar with the name now. I don't remember the last time I had an issue actually and its spelled Humza!
My Son's middle name is "Humza" It's 2013 and the USA has become more accustomed to "funny" names....
this is an old thread, but I came here because I had never seen this name before [English, Christian] and wondered how to pronounce it. I called the person (named Humza) and said "Hoomza" (on the phone) -- because, frankly, I thought it was a Japanese name (!) Like Fukashima or Fugazi. don't ask me why, but as an "Anglo", my brain guessed the "Hoom" or "Hyoom" sound. In English, there are the proper names Hume, Hubert, Huguenot, Human, Humanity, etc. These all reinforce that "Hyoo" sound. For what it's worth, I think the spellings Haamza, or Hahmza would be helpful. Unless you really want that "hum" sound, as in Hummingbird. Also, in the previous posts, there are two words: "humus" and "hummus" (for just this reason). Like Aisha, and Abdul and Jamal, and whatever else, if it's a common name we'll eventually learn it.
as a humza with the 'u' I'll keep it 100% and to the T... STOP trying to make your kids 'fit in' with english versions of powerful, strong and cultured names like a hamza... yes the correct way is with the 'A' but if you're too worried about your kid not being taught how to properly say his name and correct others who mistakenly enunciate his name improperly then that my friend is on you... dont water it down... i get you're trying to look out for the kid but you're actually dissin everything you want to instill in him... what u want is not necessarily correct.... this is me saying this as a 'U' man... only thing i will say is its just fun to spell it the unorthodox way... but again if you want to be legit, accurate its the 'A' - peace / salaams
Post a Comment