Arabic name on a business card: Mohammed, Muhammad or Mohamed?

The safest way to put an Arabic name on a business card is to write the Arabic exactly as it appears on your Emirates ID, and to spell the English version exactly as it appears on your passport, whether that is Mohammed, Muhammad or Mohamed. Then keep both spellings identical on every card, signature and profile you own. That single rule prevents most of the confusion, but names and titles raise other questions too: how to order the parts of a name, whether to include Dr, Eng or Sheikh, and how a bilingual card should read so that both audiences feel it was written for them. This guide covers names and titles for UAE professionals; for layout and language setup more broadly, see Arabic and English on one card.

If you want to follow along, create a MyInfo card and keep this page open while you enter your name and title in both languages.

Why one Arabic name has many English spellings

There is no single official way to turn Arabic script into Latin letters. Wikipedia's article on the romanization of Arabic explains why: several competing systems exist, written Arabic normally leaves out short vowels so a reader must supply them, and some Arabic sounds, such as ع, ح, غ, خ, ث and ذ, have no direct Latin letter and are written with different digraphs in different systems. Everyday "ad hoc" transcription follows the habits of another language, such as English or French, rather than one standard.

The name محمد is the most famous example. Wikipedia's article on the name Muhammad) describes it as having one of the highest numbers of English spelling variants in the world, including Muhammad, Mohammed, Mohammad, Mohamed, Muhammed, Muhamad and Mohamad. None of these is wrong. They are different attempts to write the same Arabic letters, shaped by the passport office, the country and the generation that first spelled it.

Mohammed, Muhammad or Mohamed: which should you print?

Print the one that is on your passport. UAE immigration treats the passport as the starting point for your identity: a guide to changing a name on an Emirates ID and residence visa describes the passport as the single source of truth, with your visa and Emirates ID issued to match it. A mismatch can cause trouble with renewals, banking and property transfers. A business card is not a legal document, but if it spells you differently from your contract, your trade licence or your bank, you create avoidable questions.

If your passport says Mohamed, your card says Mohamed, even if you personally prefer Muhammad. If you hold several nationalities or documents with different spellings, choose the one you use for business and contracts, and stay with it. Consistency is more valuable than the "most correct" spelling, because people search for you by what they have seen on your card, your email and your LinkedIn page.

The one place to be flexible is the web address. MyInfo card addresses use Latin characters, so a short, memorable address such as myinfo.ae/mohamed-ali does not need to match every variant of your name. See choose a card address that people remember.

If your passport is renewed with a different spelling, treat that as a change to roll out everywhere. Update your card first, since a digital card can be edited in seconds, then your email signature, your online profiles and any printed stock. This is one of the quiet advantages of a link-based card: a correction does not mean pulping a box of printed cards. See what to do when your job title or number changes.

Write the Arabic as it is on your Emirates ID

For the Arabic version, copy the spelling from your Emirates ID or passport, including how you write compound names. Do not retype it from memory or let a design tool auto-correct it. The Emirates ID carries your name in both Arabic and English, which makes it the best reference for a bilingual card.

Be careful with the same traps that confuse readers in English. Letters such as ة and ه, or ى and ي at the end of a word, look similar and appear in different spellings of the same name. Hamza forms (أ, إ, ا) are often dropped in casual typing. A copy-paste from your ID, or from a document you have already approved, avoids all of these. Then read it aloud with someone who reads Arabic natively before you print or publish.

A practical tip for designers and printers: send the Arabic as plain text, not as a screenshot or an image of a document. Arabic letters change shape depending on whether they come at the start, middle or end of a word, and software that does not support Arabic shaping shows disconnected letters or reversed order. Whoever lays out your card, always check the printed or on-screen proof before approving it.

Compound names, Al and bin

Compound Arabic names are single units. Wikipedia's article on Arabic names notes that non-Arabic speakers often split names such as Abdul-Rahman incorrectly, when it is one name meaning "servant of the Merciful", and that "bin" or "ibn" mark a generation, not a middle name. In practice that means writing Abdulrahman, Abdul Rahman or Abdul-Rahman consistently, in the same form as your passport, and never treating "Abdul" as a first name and "Rahman" as a surname.

The article "Al" (ال) usually joins a family or tribal name: Al Mansoori, Al Hashimi. English documents write it as Al, Al-, or El, often with a space. Again, follow your passport. Because many people in the UAE share common names, as one Federal National Council member noted in a 2012 report in The National about name mix-ups ("Mohammed, Obaid, Rashid, these are all common names"), a full name with a family name is more reliable than a first name alone.

Name order: which part comes first?

Traditional Arabic names run from the personal name, through the father's and grandfather's names, to a family or tribal name. Modern official documents in many Arab countries use simplified formats of three or four parts. On a business card, the cleanest convention is to put the personal name first and the family name last, in both languages, in the order your passport uses.

For English readers, the first name and the family name should be unmistakable. If your passport lists four parts, you might show only the first and last on the card for readability, such as Ahmed Al Mansoori, and keep the full name for legal documents. That is a presentation choice, not a mistake, as long as the shortened form is the one you always use. Do not reverse the order in the Arabic line: write it in normal Arabic reading order, right to left, with the personal name first.

For example, a passport name such as Ahmed Khalid Saeed Al Mansoori might appear on the card as Ahmed Al Mansoori, with أحمد المنصوري beneath it. If a client may need to match your card against a licence or a contract, the full legal form can sit in your bio or on a text section; see show your trade licence number on your digital business card.

Titles: Dr, Eng, Sheikh and job titles

Titles are conventions, not rules, so keep them honest and few. Use a professional title such as Dr, Eng or Capt only if it is part of how you are addressed professionally, and use it once, in the name or the job-title line, not both. The Arabic equivalents are الدكتور (Dr.), المهندس (Eng.) and the like, and the Arabic line should carry the Arabic form rather than the English abbreviation.

Honorifics such as Sheikh and Sheikha are social and family titles. Do not add them to your own card unless they are properly yours; if you are writing a card for someone who holds one, ask them how they want it presented. The same goes for Hajj. Avoid stacking several titles before a name. A clear job title does more for a stranger than a long prefix.

Job titles themselves should be translated by meaning, not word by word. "Sales Manager" becomes مدير المبيعات, and "General Manager" becomes المدير العام. If your company already has an official Arabic title on your contract or trade licence, reuse that. See what to put on a digital business card.

Some everyday examples: Sales Manager is مدير المبيعات, Lawyer is محامٍ, Real Estate Consultant is مستشار عقاري, Dentist is طبيب أسنان and Accountant is محاسب. Where your title is specific to your company, ask your HR team or check your contract rather than guessing, because a wrongly translated title is more noticeable to an Arabic reader than a missing one.

How a bilingual card should read

The best bilingual cards feel written for each reader. A few principles help.

1. Mirror, do not mix. Put the English name and title together, and the Arabic name and title together, instead of alternating words from each language in one line.
2. Keep information identical. Phone numbers, email and web address do not translate. Write them once, in Latin characters and digits, so they are easy to copy.
3. Respect direction. Arabic runs right to left, English left to right. On a printed card, mirror the layout on two sides or in two blocks. On a digital card the browser handles direction for you.
4. Be consistent about numerals. Pick Western digits or Arabic-Indic digits for phone numbers and use that style throughout.
5. Match tone. An Arabic line in formal Modern Standard Arabic and an English line in casual slang will feel mismatched.

How to set this up on a MyInfo card

MyInfo fields accept any text, so you can write your name in both languages directly, as described in Arabic and English on one card. In your card's Content tab, edit your card details and put the English and Arabic version of the display name together, separated by a slash or a line break, such as "Ahmed Al Mansoori | أحمد المنصوري". Do the same for the job title and company. The Arabic displays right to left next to the Latin text.

Your bio can carry two short paragraphs, one in each language; see write a bio that gets read. Free cards include one text section and Premium cards up to three, so with Premium you can give English and Arabic a section each; see use text sections for services and hours. Finally, test the Save Contact flow on a phone to check that both spellings appear correctly: how visitors save your contact.

People also find you by typing your name into WhatsApp, LinkedIn or Google in whichever script they prefer. Having both scripts on the page means a search in Arabic and a search in English can each land on your card, which is a quiet benefit of writing the name twice. Finally, keep a master note of your approved names and titles in both languages. When you later order an NFC card, a team badge or an email signature, copy from that note instead of retyping, which prevents the slow drift into three different spellings that happens in most companies.

Where bilingual names matter most

Some professions meet Arabic readers all the time, so spelling and titles carry weight. Lawyers and legal consultants often need names that match documents exactly. Real estate agents meet buyers who search in either script. Clinics and financial advisors are trusted partly through their names. For etiquette around how and when to offer a card, see business card etiquette in the UAE.

A short checklist before you publish

• Copy the English spelling from your passport and the Arabic from your Emirates ID.
• Use the same spellings on your card, email signature, LinkedIn and trade licence where possible.
• Keep compound names such as Abdul Rahman together.
• Put the personal name first and the family name last, in both languages.
• Use one title, in the right place, in the right language.
• Ask an Arabic reader to proofread, then test on both an iPhone and an Android phone.
• Avoid the common digital business card mistakes.

When you are ready, create your MyInfo card and enter both versions of your name. The same guidance helps if you are setting up cards for a team, where consistency across colleagues matters even more. Our guide to digital business card myths also covers whether a digital card can really handle Arabic.

Frequently asked questions

Which spelling is correct: Mohammed, Muhammad or Mohamed?

All of them are acceptable transliterations of the same Arabic name, محمد, and there is no single official standard. The correct one for your card is the spelling that appears on your passport, because UAE records are built from it. Use that spelling on your card, signature and online profiles, and keep it identical everywhere so people can recognise and find you.

Should my name appear in Arabic first or English first on a bilingual card?

Show the language your main audience reads first, and give the other language equal clarity. On a digital card, many UAE professionals put the English name first and the Arabic beneath or beside it, separated by a slash or line break. On a printed card, the Arabic can take one side and the English the other. Whichever you choose, keep the personal name first and the family name last in both.