Talk:Ola Abu Al Ghaib

My categorizations
If I messed up in categorizing Ola as Palestinian instead of Israeli, my apologies in advance. I'm willing to clean that up on my own. -- I dream of horses If you reply here, please ping me by adding to your message (talk to me) (My edits) @  22:58, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

Subject's surname and pronoun preference
Does anyone know what the surname (i.e. family name) of the subject of the article is? Is it "Ola", "Alghaib" or "Abu Alghaib"? If the subject's surname is not "Ola", then cleanup is needed per WP:Surname throughout the article. Does anyone know whether the subject of the article has a pronoun preference per MOS:NB? Is it OK to use "she" or should something else be used instead? -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:32, 11 January 2023 (UTC)


 * @Marchjuly The sources I have looked at all render her name as four words "Ola Abu Al Ghaib" (so the article should be moved accordingly). Arabic names are mostly a mystery to me - AFAIK "abu" means something like "son of" but how that becomes part of a woman's name I have no clue. Perhaps the Language Refdesk could help? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:11, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks the information . I've asked about this at WP:RD/L. -- Marchjuly (talk) 10:25, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
 * "Abu" is never a standalone name. "Abu al-Ghaib", however you want to spell it, is, in its compound entirety, the surname here. You just use it how you would use a Dutch name like "Van Dyke". Ola is the first name. Iskandar323 (talk) 13:16, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
 * @Iskandar323@Marchjuly Thanks, so per the English sources the article title should be "Ola Abu Al Ghaib" and "Abu Al Ghaib" is how we should write her surname. I will do the move and edits now. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:48, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
 * In Arabic, one would expect to see the surname written as two words: ابو الغيب, for which "Abu Alghaib" is the expected romanization. The spelling "Ola Abu Alghaib" is indeed occasionally found. She herself tweets as "Dr Ola abualghaib – @AlghaibOla", since 2012, but has a LinkedIn account as "Dr Ola Abu Al Ghaib", that dates from 2016. The UNPRPD website mostly lists her name as "Ola Abualghaib", with the surname written as one word, also in two reports: here, page 4, and here, page 11. ("Abu Al Ghaib" is also found on the UNPRPD website in the context of an article about her in El Pais that spells her surname as these three words, but the spelling "Abu Alghaib" is not present on the UNPRPD website.) The one-word spelling is used as the corresponding author's name in a journal article and also found very recently here. This may be her current romanized-spelling preference, but the evidence is far from clear-cut.  --Lambiam 15:14, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
 * There doesn't appear to be much consistency. One word would certainly be convenient for simplicity's sake, and there seems to be a slight preference for a single-word transcription of her name as author on papers, but it's not decisive. Incidentally, more detail on Arabic surnames can be found at WP:NAMESORT on MOS:ARABIC. Iskandar323 (talk) 16:06, 21 January 2023 (UTC)


 * abu means "father of", but it can be part of a woman's name in exactly the same way as Janet Jackson is not a son of anyone named Jack. --185.130.86.86 (talk) 08:12, 24 January 2023 (UTC)