Pashtun name

Pashtun names are names used among the Pashtun people.

Pashtun given names are derived up from the Pashto language itself. When Islam was introduced officially in Afghanistan, other names adopted by Pashtuns came from Arabic though at times, take the phonology of Pashto, e.g. the Arabic "Zulaikha", a woman's name, can become "Zlaikha" due to the consonant cluster nature of Pashto. Other names come directly from Pashto itself and will display pronunciation differences germane to the two main accents of Pashto. For example "Zarlakht" a Pashtun girl's name as pronounced in Peshawar and Kabul (and other northern Pashtuns) will be pronounced as "Zarlasht" by the Pashtuns of Kandahar and Quetta (as well as other Pashtun populations who inhabit regions further to the southern regions of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan).

Surnames can either come from being borrowed from other languages or from the Pashto language or used from given names. There are many different types of surnames used among Pashtuns.

Many Pashtuns that come from developing regions are known by their mononym due to a lack of a legal identification system. They may also have multiple mononyms (i.e. may be called by multiple personal names). However, they will know the name of their tribe even prior to registering a legal identity.

Understanding Pashtun tribal systems makes it easier to understand Pashtun surnames based on tribal lineage. Many Pashto last names come from the name of the tribe or the subdivisions of a specific tribe: in this case their name would end in -zai (son) or khel (group), (e.g. a Ghilzai Pashtun would likely have Ghilzai as their last name and a Pashtun from specifically the Adamkhel subtribe may use Adamkhel as their last name). Some tribal names have no suffix (e.g. Afridi, Sarbanri, Abdali). One must understand that many Pashtun tribes are composed of super tribes and subtribes, in other words, there are several tribes within tribes branching off and ranked in different tiers. For example, an Omarkhel Yusufzai Pashtun would have the option to use the name of their super tribe name "Sarbanri", their tribe Yusufzai, or Omarkhel, a subdivision of Yusufzai. Tribal names are usually patrilineal. The ancestral line of females generally is not included as part of the identity.

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