The Art of Literary Nomenclature

ORIGIN:
Arabic, meaning “servant of” (usually combined with another name, to mean “servant of the [whatever the other name means]”).

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
None, I don’t think? None that I’ve come across, at any rate.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Abdul Schwartz, one of Uncle Gabe’s two favorite students at his Jewish vocational school, in Sleeping Arrangements, by Laura Cunningham (published 1989, set in the 1950s).