Nehme (surname)


Nehme is a prominent Lebanese surname which is derived from the given name Nehme. As of 2014, Nehme is the 39th most common surname in Lebanon with about 13,000 people holding the surname, or about one in 380 people.

Etymology and history

The name derives from the Arabic word for “blessing” or “grace”.
The Nehme family is believed to stem from the Daou family tree with one of its sons, Nehme Daou, as the father of all Nehme families within the Levant. Lehfed, a small village near Byblos in the Byblos district of modern-day Lebanon, is believed to be the ancestral home of the Nehme family.
As Mount Lebanon was an area of continuous civil unrest at the end of the 19th century, many Nehme families were forced to flee to nearby towns, including the city of Deir el Qamar, while others ventured further south to reach the city of Haifa and beyond.
The surname Nehme is most prominent within Christian families in the north of Lebanon; however, Shia, Sunni, and Druze families in the country also share the surname. For example, a Shia branch of the family tree is also present in the south of Lebanon, specifically in the town of Mahrouna.

Variations

Because of the challenges facing transliteration, many variations of Nehme exist such as Naameh, Nemeh, Nimah and Naama.
There are other Nehme families in the Middle East which may not be related to the Lebanese branch, for example in Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, who usually have the "Al-" or "Abu" prefix, such as Al-Neama or Abu Nimah.

Notable people

Nehme