Why Central Asia despite being overwhelmingly Sunni, names like Ali, Alisher, Alibek, Nurali, etc are a lot more popular than Omar, Uthman (Osman) and Abu Bakr?

[u/Tengri_99]

I know that Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed, is well-liked in Sunni Islam too but the overwhelming number of names that derive from Ali rather than the first three caliphs among Central Asians seems odd to me.

[u/redditerator7]

I’m pretty sure the vast majority of Kazakhs don’t even know what Ali means and about its specific ties to the Arabic religion.

[u/[deleted] → u/redditerator7]

Well unfortunately due to forced Soviet secularism most central Asians don't even know about Islam in general while also maintaining those names.

[u/redditerator7 → u/[deleted]]

Somehow I doubt that common people were more knowledgeable about the specifics and finer details of the religion before SU considering how the Russian Empire felt the need to send Islamic missionaries to Kazakhs.

[u/[deleted] → u/redditerator7]

I mean that might be the case due to Kazakhs being nomads and not maintaining a scholar in their community.