Arab Ancestry Community

Discover your Arab ancestry in this free community; access resources and connect with other researchers of Arab family history around the world. 

Discover your Arab ancestry with help from the Community

👉 Scroll below to JOIN THE GROUP, post questions and join in discussions. Previous questions and announcements are also available below. 

👉 "TRANSLATION REQUEST" - When posting a discussion/question that is requesting "Translation" - Please start the Discussion Title with "Translation Request", this will help facilitate those who have ability to go directly to that Discussion. 

👉See the "Code of Conduct" below for rules and guidelines about posting 

Countries Included

Countries in blue are linked to the FamilySearch Wiki. More genealogy resources on each country can be found on their respective Wiki pages.

Algeria | Bahrain | Egypt | Iran | Iraq | Israel | Jordan | Kuwait | Lebanon | Libya | Morocco|Oman | Palestine | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | Syria | Tunisia | Türkiye | United Arab Emirates | Yemen 

Who are the Arabs Descended From?

The origins of Arab ancestry trace back to the ancient peoples of the Arabian Peninsula, with historical roots extending over 4,000 years to tribes such as the Qahtanis in the south and the Adnanis in the north. Throughout antiquity, Arab tribes migrated throughout the Arabian Peninsula, Levant, and Mesopotamia. With the advent of Islam in the 7th century AD, Muslim armies underwent campaigns of expansion that spread Arabs and the Arabic language throughout North and East Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.  

In the last 500 years, Arab communities have experienced significant migrations and cultural transformations, particularly during the Ottoman Empire, which governed much of the Arab world and influenced administrative, linguistic, and genealogical records. The 19th and 20th centuries saw waves of Arab emigration to the Americas, Europe, and beyond, often driven by economic opportunity or political unrest. These diasporas maintained strong ties to their heritage through oral histories, family names, and religious traditions. Today, tracing Arab ancestry often involves exploring civil, religious, and tribal records, many of which are preserved at the local level, in churches, archives, or compiled genealogy books, offering rich insights into familial and regional identities. 

Tools to Find Genealogical Records  

The Middle East & North Africa Research Wiki is the most comprehensive collection of genealogical resources for the Middle East and North Africa available on the internet. This free FamilySearch site is searchable by country and resources are organized by record type.  

Arab & Middle Eastern Genealogy Books Online is a collection of digitized, open access genealogical and historical texts on Middle Eastern ancestry. Perfect for experienced and dedicated researchers, these books contain tribal and village histories and lineages from across the Middle East and North Africa. The collection is primarily in Arabic, with some Persian books.  

FamilySearch Genealogies is a directory of hundreds of thousands of pedigrees that have been added to the shared FamilySearch tree and can be searched by surname. For more information, see this community post. 

Online Genealogy Videos is a collection of recorded trainings, lectures, and webinars on Arab ancestry and family history research. It is hosted on the FamilySearch Wiki.  

FamilySearch Genealogy Blog contains in-depth articles written by genealogy experts on a variety of family history topics, with many focused on Arab ancestry. 

Start Your Family Tree at FamilySearch to preserve information about your relatives and create a digital pedigree. 

Additional Links

RESOURCE LINKS |Code of Conduct |Google Translate |Posting Helps |How do I ask a Question? |Virtual Genealogy Consultations | RootsTech 

People Also Viewed

Africa Research Community | Asia Research Community 

Important Posts

🌍️Posts by country: Iran | Lebanon | Palestine

📌Other posts: Genealogies Tool | Arab & Middle Eastern Genealogy Books Online | Diaspora research videos