El-Sherif is an Egyptian Latin-alphabet spelling of Arabic الشريف, al-Sharīf: “the noble” or “the honorable.” Mohammed Attia explicitly pairs this Arabic form with El-Sherif in his discussion of modern Egyptian transliteration. The name belongs to a wider Arabic naming tradition; the spelling does not identify a particular Egyptian village or one ancestral family. See Attia, *The Translation Manual*, p. 11.
What El-Sherif Means
The name has two parts: al-, the Arabic definite article meaning “the,” and sharīf (شريف), an adjective with senses including noble, honorable, and highborn. The Dictionary of American Family Names explains Alsharif, also written Al-Sharif, as Sharif with the article added. Its Sharif entry derives the surname from a personal name based on that adjective. Compare the Alsharif entry and the Sharif entry.
This gives a firmer explanation than treating the name as a general marker of Egyptian ancestry. Its vocabulary is Arabic; its El-Sherif spelling is documented in an Egyptian context. Those are complementary facts about language and written usage, not competing origin stories. Our Egyptian surname guide places it within Egypt’s broader naming history.
Why El-Sherif and Al-Sharif Look Different
Attia’s 2009 manual writes the article as El- in its Egyptian conventions and includes El-Sherif among its examples. This is evidence for the exact spelling, rather than a reconstruction based only on similar names. It is a translation convention, not a requirement that every Egyptian family or record office follow it. Read the Egyptian transliteration section, pp. 10–12.
The Library of Congress uses a different system. Its Arabic romanization table represents ش as sh, marks the long vowel with ī, and writes the article al-, joined by a hyphen. Applying those rules gives al-Sharīf. Rule 17 retains the article’s l even when it assimilates in pronunciation. A library transcription therefore need not reproduce exactly what a listener hears or what a passport prints. See the ALA-LC Arabic table, letter and vowel tables and rule 17.
For research, preserve the spelling in each original document. A standardized transcription can be added alongside it, but replacing every occurrence with one preferred spelling would hide evidence of how the name was recorded.
A Historical Title Is Not Yet an Inherited Surname
The word also has a significant history as an honorific. Robert Gleave’s reference entry explains that sharif can designate descent from the Prophet Muhammad, often particularly through his grandson Hasan. It also records disagreement among Muslim genealogists about which lines qualified. Under Ottoman rule, the governor of Mecca was known as al-sharif. These are uses of a title in specific historical settings. Read Gleave’s “Sharif”.
The surname dictionary’s personal-name explanation and the historical title should therefore be kept distinct. An ancestor named Sharif and an ancestor described as a sharif present different research questions. Neither reference supplies a date when all Egyptian El-Sherif families began using the name hereditarily, or identifies one founder for them.
To establish inherited use in your own family, look for the same family designation across linked generations. A father and child sharing a clearly identified surname is more informative than an isolated historical mention of someone styled al-sharif. If a family preserves a lineage document, examine its date, author, provenance, and supporting parent–child links. The meaning of the name cannot fill gaps in that chain.
Related Spellings and Search Forms
The closest comparisons are forms of the same Arabic name, rather than translations into another language:
- Al-Sharif and Alsharif: both are explicitly recorded by the surname dictionary, with the article retained.
- El-Sherif: Attia’s documented Egyptian rendering of الشريف.
- Sherif and Sharif: useful unprefixed comparisons; the dictionary identifies Sherif as a variant of Sharif. Search these cautiously because removing the article changes the recorded form. See the Sherif dictionary entry.
Also try El Sherif and Elsherif as search queries where a database may handle spaces and hyphens differently. These are practical search expansions, not evidence that a particular ancestor used either form. Record a variant as attested for your family only after finding it in a document.
Our entries for Sherif and Sharif discuss the unprefixed names. To connect records under different spellings, compare the Arabic original, full name, relatives, dates, and residence. The guide to testing related surname spellings explains how to distinguish a plausible spelling match from a supported identification.
Researching an El-Sherif Family in Egypt
Start with a named person and a locality, rather than a search for all people bearing the surname. The following sequence helps address the script and identification problems this name presents:
1. Collect the fullest name available. Photograph family-held birth and marriage certificates and other identity records. Transcribe the Arabic as well as any Latin spelling, and preserve field labels that distinguish the person’s name from a parent’s name. 2. Build a record comparison. For each possible match, note parents, spouse, age or birth date, occupation, and town or district. Two records containing الشريف may concern different households even when their Latin spellings agree. 3. Use the event and place to approach the archive. Egypt’s Real Estate Taxation Authority describes a microfilm service providing birth and death certificates through 1962 nationwide. Its page outlines an application and database retrieval process. This is a concrete research lead, not a guarantee that a particular certificate survives or can be obtained remotely; check the service’s requirements before planning a visit. See the RTA’s “The Microfilm” page. 4. For a migrant, compare documents across the move. A passport, immigration file, or naturalization record may help connect an Egyptian full name to the spelling used abroad. Check accompanying relatives and birthplace rather than accepting a surname-only match. 5. Separate family tradition from demonstrated links. Record an account of sharifian descent with its informant and date, then test its generations against records. An unverified tradition remains worth preserving without being presented as established ancestry.
Use the surname evidence checklist to distinguish what each document states from what you infer. A useful result may establish when your branch used El-Sherif consistently, even if its earlier adoption history remains unknown.
References
- Patrick Hanks, Simon Lenarčič, and Peter McClure, eds. Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2022, entries Alsharif and Sharif, reproduced by Ancestry.
- Patrick Hanks, ed. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003; Sherif entry reproduced by FamilySearch, carrying a 2003, 2006 copyright notice.
- Mohammed Attia. The Translation Manual, 2009, “Transliteration for Modern Egyptian Arabic,” pp. 10–12, especially p. 11, rules 9–10 and the El-Sherif example. Author-hosted PDF.
- Library of Congress. Arabic Romanization Table, ALA-LC Romanization Tables, 2012 version, letter and vowel tables and rule 17, p. 8. Official PDF.
- Robert Gleave. “Sharif,” in Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. Reproduced by Encyclopedia.com, web entry marked updated June 8, 2018.
- Egyptian Real Estate Taxation Authority. “The Microfilm”, undated service description, accessed September 7, 2026.