Masih (surname)

Masih (Hindi: मसीह, Urdu: مسیح‎) is a common Christian surname in India and Pakistan.[1][2] The name is taken from Yeshu Masih, the Hindi and Urdu name used for Jesus Christ in the Indian subcontinent.[1] Some people in India and Pakistan have adopted the surname Masih after their conversion to Christianity.[3] In Mughal India, Christians such as the Bourbons of India were honoured with the title Masih.[4]

Notable personalities

• Iqbal Masih (1983–1995), Pakistani boy who became a symbol of abusive child labour in the developing world
• Michael Masih (born 1985), Pakistani football player
• Naeem Masih (born 1987), Pakistani para-athlete
• Rakesh Masih (born 1987), Indian football player
• Shazia Masih (1997–2010), Pakistani torture victim
• Rizwan Khurshid Masih ( Born 1987), Pakistani priest

See also

• Jai Masih Ki
• Christianity in India
• Christianity in Pakistan

References

1. Das, Madan (2014). Story of Harry Singh & Sophie Kaur. Partridge Press. ISBN 9781482821352. He soon came to know that she was a low caste Indian born on the 1st day of the Indian month of Vaisak in the year 1893 on the Indian Vikrami calendar, which corresponded to the 13th day of the month of April 1836 of the Western Calendar, into a fishing folks' family. She had been, accordingly given the name Vaisakhi. Her family had converted to Christianity and as a result her surname was not Masih, taken from Issa Masih, the Indian name for Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Kuklin, Susan (2013). Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Against Child Slavery. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 9781466860681. Many Christians in Pakistan have the surname Masih.
3. Sahoo, Sarbeswar (2018). Pentecostalism and Politics of Conversion in India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108553551. With their conversion, they dropped their ethnic surname Bhil and started using Masih instead.
4. The Illustrated Weekly of India, Volume 93, Part 1. Times of India Press. 1972. p. 51. The members of the royal family used to give the new-born Bourbons their own names after which "Masih" was added — a Mughal tradition of honouring Christians as well as a common North Indian Christian surname.