Darwish and Darvish (and in French more prominently Darwich and Darwiche) are alternate

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...

s of the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word "

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage i ...

", used in ar, درويش, referring to a Sufi aspirant. There is no v sound in most Modern Arabic dialects and so the originally Persian word is usually pronounced with a w sound in Arabic. The word appears as a surname in the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

or for people descended from Levantine communities, particularly in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, Syria,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Afghanistan and the

Palestinian territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...

. In Iraq, the surname, which in Arabic means "wandering, roaming", has been borne by people of Jewish descent as well. An etymology for the name is given in the Oxford Dictionary of American Family Names:

Notable people

;Darvish :''Refer to Darvish'' ;Darwish *

Abdullah Nimar Darwish Sheikh Abdullah Nimar Darwish (1948 – 14 May 2017) was the founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Biography Darwish was born in Kafr Qasim in 1948. After completing his religious studies in Nablus, he returned to Kafr Qasim and began advoc ...

(1948-2017), Arab-Israeli politician, founder of the

Islamic Movement in Israel The Islamic Movement in Israel (also known as the Islamic Movement in 48 Palestine) is an Islamist movement that advocates for Islam in Israel, particularly among Arabs and Circassians. The movement was established and led by Abdullah Nimar Dar ...

* Adel Darwish, British political journalist, author, historian, broadcaster, and political commentator of Egyptian origin *

Ahmad Darwish Ahmad Darwish was a Syrian professional footballer. He played for Syria in the editions 1980 Asian Cup The 1980 AFC Asian Cup was the 7th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the A ...

, Syrian footballer * Ihab Darwish, Emirati composer * Karim Darwish (born 1981), Egyptian squash player * Khalid Darwish (born 1979), Emirati footballer *

Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish ( ar, محمود درويش, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine ...

(1941–2008), Palestinian poet and author *

Nonie Darwish Nonie Darwish ( ar, نوني درويش; born Nahid Darwish, 1949) is an Egyptian-American writer, founder of ''Arabs for Israel'' movement, and is Director of Former Muslims United. Darwish is an outspoken critic of Islam. The Southern Poverty L ...

(born 1949), Egyptian-American human rights activist *

Sayed Darwish Sayed Darwish ( ar, سيد درويش, ; 17 March 1892 – 15 September 1923) was an Egyptian singer and composer who was considered the father of Egyptian popular music and one of Egypt's greatest musicians and seen by some as its single gr ...

(1892–1923), Egyptian composer and singer, considered the father of Egyptian popular music * Tiffany Darwish (born 1971), American singer and former teen icon. Known popularly by her mononym Tiffany ;al-Darwish *

Mustafa al-Darwish Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى , Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name Mo ...

(1994-2021), Saudi Arabian protester. ;Darwich/Darwiche *

Ahmad Darwich Ahmad Darwich (in Arabic أحمد درويش) (born in Lebanon on 15 May 1977) also known as Darwich, is a Lebanese- Danish DJ, songwriter and record producer. He is co-founder of the Danish Kashcow record label. Darwich & Garcia Darwich clos ...

(born 1977), Lebanese-Danish DJ and music producer and co-founder of Kashcow record label * Adnan "Eddie" Darwiche, Australian double murderer from Sydney, New South Wales, currently serving 2 sentences of life imprisonment *

Fadde Darwich Fadde Darwich (born May 5, 1966, in Qamishli, Syria) is a Swedish stand-up comedian and former security officer at the public central square Stureplan. Darwich was together with the model Emma Withers. He is often a topic of discussion in the leadi ...

(born 1966), Swedish stand-up comedian of Syrian origin

Notable people

See also

See also