Since the introduction of a national orthography in 1972 books and articles by Somali authors have been finding their way on an increasing scale into library catalogues in universities and centres of learning outside Somalia. Somali author entries are likely to present some difficulty for cataloguers and library users not acquainted with the Somali cultural background, and these brief notes are offered in the hope that they will be of some use to them.

As in many other Muslim countries, surnames are not normally used in Somalia. Instead, a person is identified by a sequence of names which begins with the given name, followed by the name of his or her father and sometimes also by the name of his or her grandfather. This is reminiscent of the system used in Arabic, except that the words corresponding to ‘son’ or ‘daughter’ are omitted.