Sharif The Arabic Urdu too word is and is pronounced shuh reef long e I would prefer Sharif as the commonest spelling and Shareef as the best IMHO let s try the latter And be open to what the consensus of Wikipedia users want to go with This is often expresed by editing D I am not an Arab myself and would defer to someone from that region Saudi Arabia and or Jordan specifically the family now rules the latter country if I thought they were being reasonable Though I think Hussein bin Ali s name is often written Sherif the early 1900s were a time of Turkish and French influence in the region One last thing let me check how Lawrence of Arabia spells it in the Seven Pillars of Wisdom yup Sherif Hussein See etc