Louli Abdo

الجد الأول

عائلة لولى

Louli, the forefather of the Louli family, referred to as "Louli Abdo", "Louli Abdo Hetta" (لولى عبده حتى), "Louli Guirguis Abdo" (English: Elias George Abdo; French: Élie Georges Abdou), or from Greek Consulate archives as "Eliou Georgiou Christodoulou Loulianos" (Ηλιού Γεωργίου Χριστοδούλου Λουλιάνος) was the forefather of the Louli family of Egypt. He was born in what is now the South Governorate of Lebanon (Ottoman Syria at the time), in either Sour, Sidon, or Jezzine district. During his youth, he was educated in a French Lazarist school in Aintoura called Collège Saint Joseph, where he would later send his sons Tewfik and Amin to study. Louli left his homeland of Lebanon as a teenager due to the 1860's Druze-Maronite conflict, as many other Christians did, and immigrated to Egypt. It is assumed that most of his family was killed during this conflict. It is also possible that his original destination was the United States, but had plans change due to the American Civil War happening at the time. Louli traveled to Egypt by ship and first landed in Damiette. He later settled in Simbellawein, a town near the city of Mansourah. He and his sons became successful in the cotton ginning industry that was booming during the Muhammad Ali dynasty era, along with thousands of other Syro-Lebanese and Greek families during those days. The official name of the business became "Tewfik et Amin Louli de Simbellawein" also known as "T. & A. Louli de Simbellawein". In Egypt, the descendants of Louli Abdo carry the name Louli as their family name. In Simbellawein, there was even a street named "Louli street" after the family. There was also a bank called "Louli bank" and the family owned a large villa. Property of the Louli business was located on what was then "rue Abou-Chekouh". Many of Louli's descendants, through his son Tewfik, now live in the U.S. and Canada and carry the surname "Tewfik" (due to Egyptian naming system after generations) . Descendants of his son Nakhla, whose mother was Louli's first wife (Cattoura), live in Canada and still carry the Louli surname. Through stories passed down from generation to generation, it is possible that Louli met his second wife, Marie, at the 40-day memorial of his first wife, Cattoura. The Louli family is Greek Orthodox Christian.

The Louli family possessed Greek nationality while they lived in Egypt, either obtained during Louli's time or during the generation of his sons, Tewfik and Amin.

According to records from the Greek Consulate of Mansourah, Louli's name is listed as "Eliou Georgiou Christodoulou Loulianos" (Ar: ايليو جورجيو كريستودولو لوليانوص) (Gr: Ηλιού Γεωργίου Χριστοδούλου Λουλιανός). This name is a Greek translation of his Arabic name. Louli is an Arabic diminutive of Elias (Élie in French; Eliou in Greek), while Girgis means George in English (Georges in French; Georgiou in Greek). Abdo (short for Abdel-messih or Abdallah) means "Servant of Christ" in English (Christodoulou in Greek).

Because three of Louli's sons named their first born sons with variants of "Elias" (Nakhla's first-born son was Elias, Amin's first-born son was Élie, and Tewfik's first-born son was Louli), it is proven that the name Louli itself is a diminutive of Elias. In Lebanon, the name Élie is often given the nickname "Louli".

The Greek citizenship helped the family with European rights and "Hamaya" or "protection" with the Mixed Courts in Egypt. It may be possible that Louli's ancestors were in fact of Greek origin and immigrated to Lebanon in the late 1700s/early 1800s (according to Tawfik Hanna Ebrahim, son of Juliette Louli). Whatever the true story may be, the Greek citizenship helped the Louli family have European representation among the Mixed Courts of Egypt.

History of the Family Name:

In Lebanon, this family may have carried the surname "Hetta", from hear-say. We are not sure if there is any connection to the well-known "Hitti" family in Lebanon, since they are mostly a Maronite Catholic family, while the Louli's are Greek Orthodox. If so, in Egypt, the "Hetta" surname was immediately dropped, and the family adopted the surname, "Louli", which was the first name of our ancestor who left Lebanon for Egypt, Louli Abdo.

In America and Canada, the descendants of Tewfik Louli now carry the surname "Tewfik". The current living branches of the Louli family are: Nakhla, Tewfik, Amin, Helena (also Tewfik, different family), Zebeida (Gabriel), Rodah (Elia), and Emilie (Canelli).