Naming and Renaming

Rabia al-Adawiyya was born with a different name but became known only by the name given by her spiritual lineage—a transformation that marked her complete dedication to her spiritual path. In diaspora, naming takes on profound significance: people navigate dominant cultures that mispronounce or reject their ancestral names, choose new names that reflect their transformed selves, maintain multiple names for different contexts. Found family provides space to witness these naming acts as sacred rather than shameful. Members learn each other's ancestral names and use them with care. They celebrate when someone chooses a new name that reflects their post-migration identity without requiring them to erase their origin. This concept recognizes that diaspora involves identity fluidity that isn't superficial but rather deeply spiritual—people are constantly being born anew in a new land while carrying ancestral lineages. Found family honors both the old name and the new, the self-you-were and the self-you-are-becoming. They ask the questions Rabia's tradition asks: Who are you calling yourself now? What does that name mean? What lineages does it carry? This creates psychological permission for the multiplicity that diaspora requires.