Try Translating “Akbar Zeb”
If you ever needed a reminder that both personal and corporate branding is crucial, just ask Akbar Zeb.
Fox News reported:
“A high-ranking Pakistani diplomat reportedly cannot be appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia because in Arabic his name translates into [an adult] phrase.” (link: www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584807,00.html)
I do not speak Arabic. But Akbar (أكبر) roughly means: more, great etc. And Zeb (زيب) means, well, you can figure it out. Apparently Zeb wasn’t too surprised as he has run into this problem before when Pakistan wanted to appoint him as the ambassador to the United Arab Emirates but he was rejected for the same reason.
How will the UAE censor its forthcoming IDN ccTLD (.امارات meaning .Emarat in Arabic) in light of previously “censoring” this poor man?
5 responses to "Try Translating “Akbar Zeb”"
when these fanatics learns
@France – I agree that this is pretty extreme.
Well, in fact this is an Urdu name, borrowed from Persian.
Zeb means “beauty” or the “one who adorns” in both Persian and Urdu.
Thus, Aurangzeb the last Great Mughal Emperor’s name meant “one who adorns the throne.” There is another beautiful feminine name called Zebunnisa, which means “ornament amongst the women” or an extremely beautiful and accomplished woman.
Hence, Akbar Zeb should be translated as “one who has a highly attractive personality” or “very handsome.”
Arcbs are closed minded people with no exposure or respect for other cultures and languages. They don’t bother to check what the name actually means. Besides, they have a long-standing hatred for the Persian-speakers as well as the South Asians. This is a result of all of this.
Sorry to say that its not the case that Middle east people hate Persians or South Asians as the lady have quoted.
I’m from saudi , here we do have name such as “Bandar” for a person. Be honest if this person goes to pakistan , will they stop laughing at his name because it means “monkey” in urdu??
Same reason goes here, when you hear a name its meanings are taken into local language.
Just for information there are now T-Shirts for this person name. http://www.zazzle.com/akbar+zeb+gifts
Mr. Akber Zaib is respectable person and concerned should understand the meanings. First the URDU language is mixture of many languages i.e. Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hindi and English. Zeb is basically a Persian word and the meaning is “Ornament or Beauty. It is very common name in Afghanistan, Pakistan & India. The well known names are Mughul Emperor Aurangzaib, Shahzaib, Zaib Gul, Zaibaish, Zeba and many more. It was better if Mr. Akber used to spell his name as ZAIB and it it differs in pronounciation Zeb or Zib and ZAIB. Ofcourse the name cannot be changed but spelling can be changed. Arabic peoples also not wrong as how will they call the word in Media which having not good meanings but pronounce will make big difference and someone should explain in better way. The Indvidual future should not be put in trouble because of this. The world is too big and he can be posted anywhere else other than Arab world. There are too many words we can find but in other language having different meanings.
The thhinking of the lady Daisy also not correct but she must think how will it be called at media instead of thinking that Arab peoples are closed mind people and do not respect other languages and cultures.Before giving hard comments you must put yourselves on that place and think. Take a word having bad meanings in one language then put it in any other language you will find big difference.