Somali name

Although it is normal among Somalis to call one another by their given name, in more formal situations, honorific terms may be used as well, such as adeer to males senior to oneself, or sheekh to a religious figure, or mudane, an individual one holds in high regard. There are also terms of endearment which are used, such as huunno (gender-neutral), other gender-neutral terms of address for one's peers, such as jaalle, saaxib, eebbow, eedo, or aboowe. There are also terms of address for significant others, such as gacalo and terms of address for younger people, i.e. maandhow (lab / masculine), maandhey (dheddig / feminine), or igaarkey (lab / masculine) and igaartey (dheddig / feminine).[1]

During Somalia's Hantiwadaag (socialist) era, Somalis typically did not have surnames or family names,[2] although since the advent of the federal era, some Somalis are beginning to adopt surnames or family names.[3] The patronymic format wherein one does not have a surname, for example with Axmed Yusuf Qaasim, would be a person whose given name is "Axmed", whose father's proper name was "Yusuf" and whose grandfather's name was "Qaasim".[2]