Darwish and Darvish are alternate transliteration

Transliteration

Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...

s of the Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 word "dervish

Dervish

A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.-Etymology:The Persian word darvīsh is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian...

", used in , referring to a Sufi aspirant. There is no v sound in most Modern Arabic dialects

Varieties of Arabic

The Arabic language is a Semitic language characterized by a wide number of linguistic varieties within its five regional forms. The largest divisions occur between the spoken languages of different regions. The Arabic of North Africa, for example, is often incomprehensible to an Arabic speaker...

 and so the originally Persian word is usually pronounced with a w sound in Arabic. The word appears as a surname in the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

 or for people descended from Levantine communities, particularly in Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and the Palestinian territories

Palestinian territories

The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...

. An etymology for the name is given in the Oxford Dictionary of American Family Names:

Famous people

• Abdullah Nimar Darwish
  Abdullah Nimar Darwish
  Sheikh Abdullah Nimar Darwish , born 1948 in Kafr Qasim, is the founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel.After completing his religious studies in Nablus, he returned to Kafr Qasim and began advocating a return to Islam and Islamic tradition, and subsequently established The Islamic Movement in...
  
  , politician
• Adel Darwish
  Adel Darwish
  Adel Darwish is a British journalist, author, historian, broadcaster and political commentator, specialising on Middle Eastern politics.Darwish is a veteran Fleet Street foreign correspondent and has written for The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, as well as maintaining his online blog and...
  
  , author and journalist
• Karim Darwish
  Karim Darwish
  Karim Darwish is a squash player from Egypt.-Career:Earlier in 2008, Darwish finished runner-up at the World Open, losing in the final to fellow Egyptian player Ramy Ashour...
  
  , athlete
• Mahmoud Darwish
  Mahmoud Darwish
  Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who won numerous awards for his literary output and was regarded as the Palestinian national poet...
  
  , poet
• Nonie Darwish
  Nonie Darwish
  Nonie Darwish is an Egyptian-American human rights activist, and founder of Arabs For Israel, and is Director of Former Muslims United. She is the author of two books: Now They Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror and Cruel and Usual Punishment: The...
  
  , human rights activist
• Sayed Darwish
  Sayed Darwish
  Sayed Darwish was an Egyptian singer and composer who was considered the father of Egyptian popular music and one of their greatest musicians and their single greatest composer. He was born in Alexandria on March 17, 1892. Darwish died of a heart attack in Alexandria on September 15, 1923 . The...
  
  , singer
• Tiffany Darwish, singer
• Yu Darvish
  Yu Darvish
  Yu Darvish is a Japanese starting pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.Darvish pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2009 World Baseball Classic as a member of the Japanese national team...
  
  , baseball player