Al-Kaabi
A family name (nisba) to Banī Kaʿb — a name the sources record for more than one group, and which they do not merge.
- Type
- Tribal nisba
- Attributed to
- Banī Kaʿb (the Gulf coast; separately lower Iraq)
- Note
- Distinct groups share the name
Overview
Al-Kaabi (al-Kaʿbī) is the nisba of Banī Kaʿb, recorded on the Gulf coast — with sections in what are now Qatar, the UAE and Oman — and separately in lower Iraq and Khuzestan. The sources do not merge the two, and this reference does not join them either.
More than one Kaʿb
Kaʿb was among the commonest of Arabic personal names; in Lisān al-ʿArab it is the bone standing proud at the joint of shin and foot, and by extension a man's eminence and honour. Ibn Ḥazm's Jamhara records several ancestors so called whose descendants it keeps apart — Kaʿb in Khuzāʿah and Kaʿb ibn Rabīʿa of ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿa among them. A nisba on the name therefore does not say which Kaʿb is meant.
Bearing the name
A family carrying this nisba should establish from its own record which grouping it is placed in before assuming any of them. A shared name may follow descent (ṣarīḥ), alliance (ḥilf) or clientage (walāʾ).
Sources
- ابن حزم الأندلسي، جمهرة أنساب العرب، 456هـ — في تكرّر الأسماء؛ كعب في خزاعة، وكعب بن ربيعة من عامر بن صعصعة
- ابن منظور، لسان العرب، 711هـ — مادة: كعب
This page is an educational, historical reference compiled from published sources. It is not an authority on lineage. Where sources differ, we report the difference without taking a position. Corrections are welcome via our contact page.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-31