Expert: Fouad - 5/27/2009

Question
could you please help me i live in England and believe my father was a foreign trainee fighter pilot over here in 1955, i was told his name was Adan Shabban but not sure of the spelling and this is making it difficult to do any tracing, this is how it sounds but also wondered about Jabban , really confused as to the proper way of spelling it. Could you advise me please of what you think it may be as stopping me from getting any further in my search. Regards Anita Durham.

Answer
Dear Anita,
i really appreciate you searching,and retrieving your roots. and i will not hesitate help in any way i can!.
Now diving into the issue:
Adan,or i'd suggest Adnan too are both arabian names though Adnan is much more popular.
Adan is a nickname for the heaven Muslims believe in.it is written as عدن
Also,i suggest you consider Aden that is another spelling that  serves the same Arabic pronunciation عدن
and About Adnan you can pronounce it Ad-NaN عدنان
now when it comes to the family name,it's VERY hard to guess what the actual one is!.for there are Tens of thousands,if not more family names in the arab/islamic word.
Jabban or Shabban both are possible if i could hear his name i would be able to write it correctly!... if it sounds like Shabban then Jabban shall be excluded because the J in arabic makes a totally different sound  than SH... the same big difference that is in English so there is no confusion here...
Please Write Me Back if you have any more questions or need any help!
---
BEST OF LUCK!
Hope this helps
~Fouad