A number of Wahabs are buried in the old George Howard Cemetery on British Cemetery Road.
According to the internet, the surname Wahab is of Arabic origin, meaning “giver” or “bestower.” It is derived from the Arabic word wahhāb, which is also one of the 99 names of Allah in Islam, meaning “the All-Giver.” The name is often found in Muslim communities. A cursory glance at a Google search reveals a plethora of Arabic connections. Virtually all of the entries for Wahab are paired with an Arabic given name such as Hussein, Abdul, Mohammad, Omar, or Adnan.
Curiously, this apparently non-Western surname, Wahab, has also been associated with Ocracoke Island since the 18th century. James Wahab is the first Wahab of record to live in coastal North Carolina. He received two land grants on Hatteras Banks in 1755. In 1936, Ocracoke native and entrepreneur, Robert Stanley Wahab, direct descendant of James Wahab, built the Wahab Village Hotel (now Blackbeard’s Lodge), the focal point of a commercial venture he dubbed “Wahab Village.” This Ocracoke establishment eventually included a dance hall, apartments, a movie theater, and a roller rink. Today, only the hotel remains.
By the mid-1950s, Stanley Wahab was promoting and advertising “The Isle of Ocracoke” as the “Bermuda of the U.S.A.” His brochure identified Ocracoke as the destination for a “Glorious Vacation…30 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean” and included a photo of Stanley holding a large channel bass. He was described as the descendant of an “Arab ancestor [who] was the sole survivor of a shipwreck crew on Ocracoke Island in the year 1739.”
The story of the Ocracoke Wahab connection with Arabia has fascinated and intrigued several generations of islanders and visitors. However, a number of scholars, researchers, and even some Wahab family members question this colorful story. Researchers and genealogists point out that the folklore about a ship-wrecked Arabian sailor is without proof and completely disregards the fact that the Wahab Family is a distinguished Scottish family with records extending back to the 14th century. Spelling of the name includes many variants such as Walkup, Wauchope, Waughup, Wauchop, and Waughop.
The earliest known published account touting a connection between the Wahabs of Ocracoke Island and the Middle East is Stanley Wahab’s mid-1950s brochure advertising Ocracoke Island and his Wahab Village Hotel. This appears to be an attempt to provide an exotic history in order to attract tourists. Furthermore, DNA testing of the Outer Banks Wahabs indicates Scotch-Irish Origins. According to geneticists, a dominant Wahab genetic marker, R-L21, is a Y-chromosome haplogroup found predominantly in populations of the British Isles and other Atlantic European regions, not the Middle East.
All credible evidence, including DNA tests, the Wahab family’s non-Arabic given names, alternate spellings of the surname, and the history of immigration to Eastern North Carolina from the British Isles, all point, not to Arabia, but to a Scotch-Irish origin of the Ocracoke Wahab family.
You can read more about the Wahabs of Ocracoke at https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/wahabs-ocracoke-island/.