> And as Howard mentioned, in Indonesia it's reasonably common to have only one name. ("Suharto", for instance.) I also remember having seen mention of a single-named person from somewhere around India.

Many people in Afghanistan use one name as well. In recent news stories, after someone with one name is mentioned, the phrase "who, like many Afghans, goes by one name" is added after the person's name.

> > And while I'm at it, what's the deal with the
> > repeated name that seems fairly common in
> > Arabic nations? (snip) And
> > the Foriegn Minister for the Northern Alliance
> > in Afghanistan is Abdullah Abdullah.

That got my attention when I saw it. One thing I'm curious about: In the earlier news stories, he was identfied as Abdullah Abdullah. In some more recent news stories, he was identified as just "Abdullah" and the clause "who, like many Afghans, uses one name" was included. Which is correct?

(BTW, Afghanistan isn't an Arabic nation. And I don't know what the deal is.)

> "Abdullah Abdullah" struck me as a rather interesting name when I first heard it as well. And on the same subject, there's also the classic example Boutros Boutros Ghali...

Recently a guy with the last name Boumtje Boumtje joined the Portland Trail Blazers.

Lucky "Still catching up with the forum" Wizard