The recent increase in random approaches to translating Arabic proper names into English has led to serious discrepancies in their transliterations as well as difficulties and problems in identifying one’s identity. This paper is an attempt to shed light on this phenomenon and to investigate the many problems and difficulties encountered in transliterating Arabic proper names in birth, marriage, passport and other personal documents. Venuti’s Foreignisation Approach, a theoretical framework for standardisation of the transliteration of Arabic proper names, was used for analysis and discussion. Results of the analysis and discussion of samples in this paper have indicated that there is an urgent need for a mechanism in order to help use a standardised profile for transliterating Arabic proper names all around the Arab world. To achieve this objective, a list of suggestions was made for use by those in authority and those interested in carrying out further research in this field.
Keywords: Arabic Proper Names, Authoritative Standardization, Culture, Domestication, Foreignisation, Problems, Transliteration
