Ilhan Omar

official U.S. Congress photo of Ilhan Omar c. 2019

Birth Name: Ilham Abdullahi Omar

Place of Birth: Mogadishu, Somalia

Date of Birth: October 4, 1982

Ethnicity: Somali [including Bendari]

Ilhan Omar is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she has been a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota, since January 3, 2019.

She was born in Mogadishu, the daughter of Fadhuma Abukar Haji Hussein and Nur Omar Mohamed. Her father is of Somali descent, from the Majeerteen clan, and was a colonel in the Somali army under Siad Barre. Her mother is of Bendari ancestry, a group of partially Yemenite ancestry. Ilhan is married to Tim Mynett. She has three children, including environmental activist Isra Hirsi, with her former husband Ahmed Hirsi.

She is a Muslim and belongs to the Majeerteen clan.

Ilhan initially grew up in Baidoa, Somalia. Her family left Somalia during the Somali Civil War in the 1990s, first living in the Dadaab refugee camp in nearby Garissa County, Kenya, and then the U.S., eventually settling in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ilhan became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

Her sister is nurse and health care executive Sahra Noor.

Ilhan’s grandfather was named Abukar. He was the director of Somalia’s National Marine Transport.

6 Responses

  1. jackson9 says:

    Good job Israel. I praise your decision today

  2. Oaken05 says:

    The Bendari ARE Somali. I’d put it as “Somali” and then Bendari in parentheses or something, but to divide them out as being seperate from one another doesn’t work. “Somali” can be both a nationality and ethnicity, but in this case you add the overarching nationality, and then you can sub everything else. I’d personally put Bendari and whatever Somali tribe she is as the subs.

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