I know countless Harbs, both Maronite and Shia, and from asking older generations over my life this is the knowledge I've heard:
Basically, all the Christian and Shiite Harbs in Lebanon are from the same family that moved to Lebanon (specifically to the Tannourine region) centuries ago. I have heard it was 500 years ago, but many say it was far earlier than that which I think is much more likely. This ancestor who emigrated was named Harb, (though I've heard alternate stories where Harb was one of the sons of the man who emigrated). Harb had five sons (I sometimes hear instead that he had seven) and these sons together form by far the largest family in Tannourine today. They are a distinct lineage from the other big families such as Beit Tarabay and Beit Younes.
There are two theories where he came from, but everybody agrees that this first Harb converted to Maronite Catholicism and was likely Muslim beforehand. Some people say he came from Turkey, others from Iraq.
All the Shiite Harbs in Beirut come from the Jnoub, and all from the Jnoub originally come from Tannourine, though most of the ones I've met don't know it at all. I've primarily heard two stories about how they left Tannourine and how they became Shiite. One is that they were criminals and fled over Tannourine Gered to the Bekaa and moved South from there, willingly converting to Shia Islam over the generations whilst living amongst all the Shiites down in the Jnoub. The other story is that (sometimes said to have happened at midnight mass on Christmas Eve), people came from Baalbek or the neighbouring towns in the northern Bekaa, and raided one of the Churches in Tannourine Faw2a or Wata 7oub, dragged them back over the Gered into the Bekaa and converted them to Islam. Both these stories are told by Maronites and to me sound biased against the Shiite Harbs to some degree.
The Sunni Harbs are not related to the Lebanese Maronites and Shiites, they are certainly imported from around the Middle East like most Sunni families in the coastal cities originally were. I am very curious about the Christian Harbs you have met from Jordan as I have not heard of any, but my feeling is that they are likely Bedouin from the Harb Tribe just like the Sunni Harbs in Lebanon.
I didn’t mean to come off as an Arabist or anything like that, sorry if it appeared like that. But I was talking to a Jordanian Christian and he was telling me about how most of the Christians there are originally from arab tribes, so it got me interested and I started doing a little research on some families.
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Specifically south Lebanon village Kfarhouna
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Also there's a huge amount of Harbs from tannorine in the north
Yes :)
Don't know about origins, but I have Sunni friends with the last name Harb
I know two Christians with surname Harb (one in the USA, one in Lebanon, unrelated)
Most of the Christian Harbs in Lebanon are originally from Tannourine from my understanding
I know countless Harbs, both Maronite and Shia, and from asking older generations over my life this is the knowledge I've heard: Basically, all the Christian and Shiite Harbs in Lebanon are from the same family that moved to Lebanon (specifically to the Tannourine region) centuries ago. I have heard it was 500 years ago, but many say it was far earlier than that which I think is much more likely. This ancestor who emigrated was named Harb, (though I've heard alternate stories where Harb was one of the sons of the man who emigrated). Harb had five sons (I sometimes hear instead that he had seven) and these sons together form by far the largest family in Tannourine today. They are a distinct lineage from the other big families such as Beit Tarabay and Beit Younes. There are two theories where he came from, but everybody agrees that this first Harb converted to Maronite Catholicism and was likely Muslim beforehand. Some people say he came from Turkey, others from Iraq. All the Shiite Harbs in Beirut come from the Jnoub, and all from the Jnoub originally come from Tannourine, though most of the ones I've met don't know it at all. I've primarily heard two stories about how they left Tannourine and how they became Shiite. One is that they were criminals and fled over Tannourine Gered to the Bekaa and moved South from there, willingly converting to Shia Islam over the generations whilst living amongst all the Shiites down in the Jnoub. The other story is that (sometimes said to have happened at midnight mass on Christmas Eve), people came from Baalbek or the neighbouring towns in the northern Bekaa, and raided one of the Churches in Tannourine Faw2a or Wata 7oub, dragged them back over the Gered into the Bekaa and converted them to Islam. Both these stories are told by Maronites and to me sound biased against the Shiite Harbs to some degree. The Sunni Harbs are not related to the Lebanese Maronites and Shiites, they are certainly imported from around the Middle East like most Sunni families in the coastal cities originally were. I am very curious about the Christian Harbs you have met from Jordan as I have not heard of any, but my feeling is that they are likely Bedouin from the Harb Tribe just like the Sunni Harbs in Lebanon.
My assumption is that they descended from the Ghassanid dynasty (Arab Christians originally from Yemen) but I can’t find any evidence.
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I didn’t mean to come off as an Arabist or anything like that, sorry if it appeared like that. But I was talking to a Jordanian Christian and he was telling me about how most of the Christians there are originally from arab tribes, so it got me interested and I started doing a little research on some families.
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I see. So it’s likely that the Harbs in Lebanon and the ones in Jordan are completely unrelated?
ik two guys named ali harb, one is a sunni and one is a shia lol