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Birth Name:
Paula Julie Abdul
Birth Place:
San Fernando, California, U.S.
Date of Birth:
June 19, 1962
What Race or Ethnicity:
Jewish Syrian, Jewish Russian-Ukrainian and French Canadian
Despite many people believing Abdul is Black, her father Harry Abdul, was a Syrian Jew who immigrated to Brazil and then to the U.S. while her mother Lorraine Rykiss is also Jewish and originally from Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, Canada. Paula’s nationality is American.
Abdul has been quoted saying her mother is French-Canadian and her father is Brazilian-Syrian. Many people may associate her with the Black community because of her style of music.
In a book called The Portable Jewish Mother, it states that Abdul’s father is a Sephardic Jew and her mom is an Ashkenazi Jew.
An Abdul associate says: “I can’t say that this is a Black woman totally, but the major part of her early success came from the Black community, and her identity is definitely with Blacks.”
Source:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3328923,00.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n5_v45/ai_8540133
Celebrities sharing similar heritage:
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I am arabic(jordanian palestinian) from my fathers side and nicaraguan from my mothers side. I speak spanish and I know a few words in arabic. I am also learning german.
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Syrian is a caucasian ethnicity, as are the Lebanese & most Middle Eastern people. Paula is white on both sides, just not Anglo-Saxon.
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“Paula Abdul’s father is a Sephardic Jew and her mom is an Ashkenazi Jew”
thanks your right on that one. i just updated the profile.
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Paula Abdul’s father is a Sephardic Jew and her mom is an Ashkenazi Jew (i think…)
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Although Abdullah is commonly considered to be the complete word, Adbul is also used very frequently names. Abdul means slave and Allah means God, hence Abdullah means slave of God. So if only ‘Abdul’ is used, it means slave.
No wonder many people think Paula has Black roots as well…
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great comment. thanks for that.
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Abduallah means the slave of God … this is the most commonly used for for Abdul and it is never used alone. He must have dropped part of his name to make it easier to write. Us Arabs weather we are muslims chrisitans or Jew pray to God Allah in arabic.
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Not everyone with an Arab sounding name is a Muslim. The historical language of the “Middle East” is Arabic. Please jump into the 21st century, the water’s fine.
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She is middle Eastern. Her father is from Syria but he is Jewish Syrian.
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then whey does she have a muslim name and surname?she looks very middle eastern to me
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