Barack (given name)

In modern Arabic, the name Barack (Arabic: باراك ) pronounced ba'-rak, means "he who is blessed" or simply "blessed". A more common form in most Arabic-speaking countries is the passive Mubarak.

The usage of the root B-R-K as a male name meaning "blessing" occurs in the Ancient Semitic Sabean (barqac), in Palmyrene (baraq), and in Punic (Barcas, as surname of Hamilcar), and as a Divine name in Assyrian Ramman-Birqu and Gibil-Birqu [Del. Assyrian, HWB, 187] , and personal Biblical name Barukh or Baruch (which is also the modern Hebrew cognate; see Book of Baruch for an instance of the name). "Barack" and "Baruch" are equivalent to "Benedict" (Latin "Benedictus").

Persons with the name Barack:
* Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee in the 2008 U.S. presidential election and current junior U.S. senator from Illinois.
* Barack Obama, Sr., a Harvard-educated Kenyan economist, father of Barack Obama.

The Arabic name "Barq" (Arabic: برق) with different root consonants (and so etymologically unrelated) means "lightning" in Arabic [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004196.html] . See also Buraq, a different word from the same b-r-q root.

The Hebrew name Barak (Hebrew: בָּרָק‎), meaning "lightning", also derived from the Semitic b-r-q root, was mentioned in the Book of Judges. Barak was the son of Abinoam of Kedesh, a refuge city in Har Naphtali. [Judges 5:6,7] . This name is popular in modern Israel as a male name and also as a family name [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004196.html] .

References