What's in a Name?

Earlier this year, I wrote about the frequent misspelling of Sayyida Salme’s name – her Western spelling of Salme – and how we should take her word for what is correct.[1] It’s her name after all! I did not have room there to digress into other names, so this is now the post for that. Names have meanings and stories and sometimes quirks. Here are some “fun facts,” if you will:

Sayyid Said bin Sultan: This is my favorite convolution for English-speaking ears. It is the name of Sayyida Salme’s father, one of the greatest Sultans of the Al Bu Said dynasty, which has reigned since before the American Republic and continues to this day. First is the notable overlap of pronunciation between Sayyid and Said, which sounds like a double staccato, and second is the reference to Sultan. “Sayyid” is, in fact, the honorific title used by Omanis for all royal men of the Al Bu Said family, whether Prince or Sultan (and “Sayyida” for the women, as in Sayyida Salme).[2] “Said” is then his proper first name (hence Sayyida Salme bint Said). Meanwhile, “Sultan” does not, in fact, mean Sultan here, but is instead his father’s proper first name (as in Sayyid Sultan bin Ahmed).

Emily Ruete: As part of her many dualities, Sayyida Salme also had dual names. Born Salme, she spent her first twenty-two years known as Sayyida Salme (Princess Salme). However, on May 30, 1867, having fled to Aden from Zanzibar, she became Emily Ruete through her Christian baptism (Emily) and Christian marriage (Ruete). Her chosen Christian name came from Emily Seward, the wife of the British consul who had helped her escape from Zanzibar nine months before. Ruete was the surname of her husband, Heinrich Ruete, who then left with her and their first born on the very same day by sea and train for Hamburg.

Bibi: Bibi was Heinrich’s nickname for his wife, but is also a general term for Mistress (Madam), including for a person of high standing like Bibi Azze, Sayyid Said’s primary formal wife.[3] Her husband calls Sayyida Salme “Bibi” in her dialogues with him in Letters to the Homeland. (She, by striking contrast, does not refer to her husband by name anywhere in either the Memoirs or Letters.) For example:

This was also the time that my dear husband, in his concern for my wellbeing, could not dress me warmly enough. I was very displeased by all this, since I thoroughly disliked how much attire the rough climate here requires. You cannot imagine what all I had to layer on, all at the same time. Not infrequently, my dear husband would come rushing after me with some item of clothing in his hands, calling: Bibi! Wewe umasahaw kitu! (My wife, you have forgotten something.) To which my response was always the same: Siku sahaw lakini sipendi. (I have not forgotten anything; I just do not like it.) (Letters, p. 23)

Rudolph Heinrich Ruete: Although her husband went by “Heinrich,” that was not his given first name. It was customary practice for the men in the family (perhaps more broadly in Hamburg) to go by their middle names, as was also the case with his father and half-brothers. Both names were passed down to his sons (see below). Notably, neither of Sayyida Salme’s daughters got her name.

Heinrich Ruete (junior): Sayyida Salme named her first child, who was born on December 7, 1866, and baptized on April 1, 1867, after his father. Had the two of them talked about it before she fled Zanzibar? There is, in any case, some poignancy to the fact that she chose the name during Heinrich senior’s long absence on commercial business – nine full months! – while she stayed in Aden, patiently awaiting his arrival. When it came to naming their second son, who was born in Hamburg on April 13, 1869, the choice was logically Rudolph, since the name Heinrich was already taken. But this would not have been logical to the rest of the family because we know something that the children never knew. Tragically, almost inconceivably so, Heinrich junior died in the train between Lyon and Paris on that fateful journey to Hamburg.[4] Did Rudolph ever wonder why he got his father’s official first name, rather than his customarily used name? Perhaps not – and with no more sons after Heinrich senior died in 1870, that question was never put to the test.

Rudolph Said Ruete: As was customary for the family (see above), the couple’s German-born son was called by his middle name “Said” while growing up. At a certain point, however, he sought a change. After repeated attempts, he finally succeeded on July 11, 1906, at the age of thirty-seven, when the Hamburg Senate gave its permission.[5] Becoming Rudolph Said-Ruete, he shifted to using the more European Rudolph and tacked his middle name, the one he had been using, onto his last name. I find this reminiscent of the Arabic “bin” (son of) convention where the father’s first name appears after the son’s name (although in this case, it’s the grandfather’s first name).[6]  

Antonie Ruete/Rosalie Ruete: The girls in the family were called Toni and Rosa. Although neither was given an official middle name (unlike Said), it appears that they were also called informally by the Arabic variants “Thawka” and “Ghuza.” It is unclear where these names came from, or even how much they were used (e.g., in Sayyida Salme’s letter to her half-brother Sultan Barghash), although Rosa and Ghuza appear phonetically linked.

Emily for descendants: “Emilys” abound in my branch of the extended family descended from Rosa, even though it is not a typical German name. From a generational perspective, the first generation (Sayyida Salme’s children) had none, the second generation had one (my grandmother’s first name), the third generation has one (my mother’s middle name), the fourth generation has two (my middle name and then my cousin’s first name), and the fifth generation has at least one (my sister’s daughter’s first name). I am not sure about the sixth generation, which is still emerging. I also do not know about the other two branches of the family descended from Antonie and Rudolph.

Salme for descendants: Unlike Emily, “Salmes” do not abound across all branches of the extended family. I have speculated that this reflected naming regulations more than preference.[7] Within my own branch, which stayed in Germany longer than the other branches (almost all of my branch is still in Germany today), there was also the period when an Oriental name would have flagged a risky non-Aryan identity. As far as I know, only Rudolph’s daughter (born in London in 1910) was given the name “Salme” as one of several middle names[8] – that is, until I had my own child, who also has Salme as a middle name. I considered it a great privilege to reach back in time and revive this special name.

So what’s in a name – plenty!

Let history surprise you, let her story inspire you – let her authentic voice speak to you.

Andrea Emily Stumpf,

August 17, 2026

Photo Credit: Photo taken by me of Sayyid Said’s tughra placed on the bottom right corner of a mounted portrait of Sayyid Madjid, as part of the Sayyida Salme (Emily Ruete) and Rudolph Said-Ruete archive preserved by the Leiden University Libraries at Or. 27.135 D19.

[1] Call Her by Her Name from January 22, 2026.

[2] This title is spelled both “Sayyid” and “Seyyid” in Roman lettering. In his seminal book, An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds (1993), the noted professor and historian Emeri van Donzel refers to both spellings (p. 9). Professor Van Donzel also footnoted this reference with a clarification that Omani use of this honorific differs from the reference to direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad. The prophet’s name is, of course, another name with a lot of Roman lettering variations.

[3] As opposed to Sayyid Said’s seventy-five sarari or “secondary wives.” (Memoirs, p. 8)

[4] This was first conclusively revealed by Dr. Heinz Schneppen, who served as German Ambassador to Tanzania from 1993 to 1996 and was the first to publish Briefe nach der Heimat in 1999. His archival research for the book was a stunning revelation generations later. Dr. Heinz Schneppen passed away earlier this year on April 11, 2026.

[5] Documents and details on this were collected by Fridjof Gutendorf and presented at the Ohlsdorf Friedhof on February 29, 2024 (“Schriftstellerin Emily Ruete und ihre Familie – im Lichte neu entdeckter Dokumente,” slide 59).

[6] Indeed, according to Professor van Donzel, Rudolph justified this change request by his “wish to have his grandfather’s name survive.” (An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds, p. 117)

[7] Germany had a list of approved names. See Memoirs, footnote 36, p. 236.

[8] In full: Olga Salme Mathilde Benvenuta Said-Ruete.