Semaan

Semaan ( ), also spelled '''Sem'an, Semán, Simaan, Sim'an, Samaan, Sam'an, or Sima'an''', is a masculine given name mainly found in the Levant of West Asia. It can also be used as a surname. The name is derived from the Semitic root word/verb ''sema'' or ''shema'', which means “to hear”; thus, the meaning of ''Semaan'' becomes “the one who hears or listens” in both Syriac and Arabic.

The name's equivalent in Hebrew is ''Shimon'' or ''Shim'on'' (), which also has the same meaning. The Hebrew form is also the origin for the Arabic name, of which its use as a surname is common in Saudi Arabia. The Greek transliteration is Simon () or Symeon (), and when Latinized, it becomes ''Simon'' or ''Simeon''.

Today, the overwhelming majority of people who hold the Semaan surname are Middle Eastern Christians who belong to various churches of the Syriac rites of Christianity, as well as the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church of Antioch, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Coptic Orthodox Church. The ethnic origin of Semaan families varies by geographic location, most prevalent of which is Greek-Syrian, descendants of the Byzantine Greek (Rûm) population of the Syrian tetrapolis (Antioch, Seleucia Pieria, Apamea, and Laodicea). Provided by Wikipedia