When did we stop calling him "bin Laden"?

[ThatPoetGuy]

I'm pretty sure that used to be how we referred to the terrorist leader, not "Osama."

Did the change occur naturally?

Did the right-wing media start calling him "Osama" for short, rather than "bin Laden," because they knew his first name sounded like Obama?

Or am I remembering falsely, and we always referred to him as "Osama"?

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. I have always referred to him as both...I'm pretty sure.

I know I've used both names here over the past day.

[sufrommich]

2. "We" who? nt

[texpatriot2004]

3. Good question. I think it was the day they killed him? I remember

him as OBL (meaning his entire name) or as Bin Laden which is what I still refer to him as. What's up with the sudden change?

[NYC Liberal]

4. I've ALWAYS heard him called that, since even before 9/11.

[ThatPoetGuy]

7. Google News Timeline seems to disagree with you so far.

Mentions of him start popping up in 1998.

* FRONTLINE: Hunting Bin Laden: The Trail of Evidence
* US: Saudi Bin Laden Leads Worldwide Web of Terrorism
* Bin Laden Believes the United States Is an Evil Country
* Second Suspect Blames Bombing at Embassy on Bin Laden Group
* Bin Laden in Holy War with United States
* Bin Laden Was Target
* Bin Laden, Aide Indicted in Embassy Bombings
* Bin Laden Notoriety Gives Name a Boost
* Pakistan Offers to Help Bin Laden Talks

and so on. Google doesn't show a single article, not one, from 1998 or 1999 where he is referred to as "Osama," but dozens where he is referred to as "Bin Laden." I'm going to keep going through looking for where "Osama" began, but it didn't begin before 2000.

[NYC Liberal]

10. Everyone I know was calling him "Osama" a long time ago.

If you're only talking about news headlines, there were many more stories about him after 9/11 and you can see plenty of instances of him being referred to that way since then.

[ThatPoetGuy]

13. I haven't gotten there yet,

but my memory disagrees with you; I remember plenty of "bin Laden" headlines, not "Osama" headlines.

I'll tell you what I find.

[uppityperson]

5. I always called him Osama as the binLadens are a large family and there is only 1 Osama, wiki says..

Arabic people are referred to by their first name rather than the last, for instance "son of Laden".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_name

Nasab نسب
See also: Patronymic#Arabic
The nasab is a patronymic or series of patronymics. It indicates the person's heritage by the word ابن ibn (sometimes bin) which means "son", and bint, "daughter". Thus ابن خلدون Ibn Khaldun means "son of Khaldun" (Khaldun is the father's ism, or proper name—or, in this particular case, the proper name of a remote ancestor). Several nasab can follow in a chain, to trace a person's ancestry backwards in time. This was important in the tribally based society of the ancient Arabs, both for purposes of identification and for social and political interaction. In modern Arabic, it is very common for people to omit the ibn or bint in normal conversation, just using the names themselves.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. OTOH, the repubs consistantly called him Usama, before 2007.

What changed then?

[uppityperson]

8. If you mean the spelling, it is because the alphabets don't translate accurately

look at Mummar Kaddafi/etc spellings.

[uppityperson]

9. Tinfoil time. Or it could be that bushites were being nice to Osama's larger family that is

involved with construction. Google binladin group. And The Family is close to Saudi royalty. Perhaps they were trying to show they had no ill feelings towards them by using Osama vs bin Laden?

[Sparkly]

11. Pres. Clinton used to call him "Usama." nt

[Common Sense Party]

12. I'm not on a first-name basis with terrorists.

Too cozy for me.

I've always called him Bin Laden.

Now, he's just Fish Food.