Barack Hussein Obama is easily the most fascinating name of the 2008 US presidential election — and that’s saying something, when the field included the likes of Huckabee and Gravel (pronounced grah-VELL).

Barack’s father — also named Barack Obama — was from Kenya, and his name was Swahili, meaning “blessed”. The Swahili name is ultimately borrowed from Arabic b-r-k, a triconsonental root that is at the basis of many words dealing with blessings and good fortune. It is cognate with Hebrew baruch, also meaning “blessed”. Swahili has a large number of loan words from Arabic, so Barack’s first name has nothing to do with his father’s Muslim upbringing. Spiritually, Barack is a burst of powerful Source energy that is gathered up and contained — i.e. a blessing bestowed on someone.

The story doesn’t end there, though. Through most of his childhood, Barack went by the nickname Bar – which indicates the same explosive, powerful source energy, but lacks the direction and containment of Barack. When he grew older, he went by the name of Barry, which has a completely different energy — while it is still explosive and strong, it lacks a source connection; instead it is connective and social. Only when Barack went to college and began to seek out a deeper understanding of his roots did he decide to go by his original name. Choosing one’s name is a very important spiritual act, and marks quite a turning point in Barack’s understanding of himself.

Hussein, meanwhile, is an Arabic name of proud Muslim heritage, a diminutive of the name Hasan, meaning “good” or “handsome”. The original Hussein was a grandson of Mohammad, and Shiite Muslims regard him and his elder brother Hasan as the true successors of the Prophet. Energetically, the h-s-n root indicates a strongly directed, sinuous energy that arises from a place of safety and is grounded towards some goal or target. The u-ei vowels of the name show that the energy is well-rounded and fast-moving as it arises, and becomes elastic and far-reaching as it nears its goal. Interestingly, the English word that’s closest in meaning to Hussein is “cutie”, and the sounds of the words are not all that different — they have similar vowels (u-ei vs. u-ie), and energetically, “h” is similar to “c” and “s” is similar to “t”. Generally, the name Hussein indicates more challenges and growth than cutie does.

Lastly, Obama is a not-uncommon surname of the Luo people of east Africa. As best I can determine, it is of uncertain origin, but might be related to the root obam, meaning “bending” or “leaning”. The Obama family is tightly wound up in the politics of Kenya at present. Obama is a name of earth-source-energy, bursting out into spiritual manifestation.

Overall, it’s remarkable how much earth/source energy abounds in Obama’s names, while the repeating “b”’s indicate sudden growth. This name is an unexpected upswelling of grounded power, manifesting blessings. Hussein breaks the pattern: it modulates the growing source energy with direction, decision, and firm targets. Barack Hussein Obama is the name of a man who rises suddenly from the earth, and moves with decision and determination toward his goals.

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