Kafr el-Sheikh

Kafr El Sheikh is an Egyptian city and the capital of Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, Egypt, about 134 km north of Cairo, in the Nile Delta of lower Egypt. As of November 2006, the town had a population of around 500,000. Kafr El Sheikh was earlier known as Duminqun, but was officially named Fuadiyah or Fouadiyah in honour of King Fuad I of Egypt. After the 1952 Revolution and the subsequent abolition of the monarchy, the governorate took the name of its capital city Kafr El Sheikh. This name, adopted in 1955, means "the village of the chief". In 2006 the University of Kafr El Sheikh was established. Etymology The modern name of the city means "village of the sheikh", and refers to sheikh Talhha at-Tilmisānī, who died here in 1234. The older name of the city, Dumaynaqun, is reconstructed from Coptic by Engsheden as ("island") + a personal name. This pattern is widely represented in Egyptian toponymy, so the name is expected to be Egyptian, but he proposes Nikon, which is unattested in Coptic sources, unable to find a suitable Egyptian name. In fact, a personal name Akon is contained in place names like Pmounakon in the Hermopolite nome and Tmounakon near Oxyrhynchus, the latter of which could share its etymology with Dumaynaqun.