Talk:Barack Obama Sr.

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"Sr." or "Sr"?

Many American sources use "Sr.", but British ones like The Guardian and BBC use "Sr" (no period) except The Telegraph, which used the period in 2010. Moreover, this person was neither British nor American but Kenyan. Which one shall we use for the whole article and the title? --George Ho (talk) 17:54, 16 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

== Neither "Sr." nor "Sr" ==

First of all, [WP] is published out of America, not the UK, so British rules are irrelevant.

Secondly, the son's birth certificate said, "Barack Hussein Obama II," not "Jr." (Since the father was the senior Obama, it should have said "Jr.," but that's only if the parents were legally married.)

However, the child's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, learned between her marriage ceremony to Obama, and the birth of her son, that Obama was already married back in Kenya, thus that her marriage was bigamous, and therefore illegal. (In other words, both parents engaged in fraud.) Therefore, the child's legal name would have been Barack Hussein Dunham. Back then, parents were not legally permitted to give a child who was born out of wedlock his father's last name. 2603:7000:B23D:C116:9035:FA9B:D2C7:597 (talk) 00:02, 23 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 1 July 2016

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

When a parent and child share the exact same name they are distinguished by the generational suffixes Sr and Jr respective while both are alive and by the generational suffixes I and II respectively when one of them is dead. Since Barack Hussein Obama "Sr" is dead then he should be referred to as Barack Hussein Obama I. This is not only correct but would also bring this Wikipedia article into conformity with Barack Hussein Obama "jr's" page who is correctly being referred to as Barack Hussein Obama II.

Change Barack Hussein Obama Sr. to Barack Hussein Obama I.

2605:6000:ED47:AF00:596B:392:AE:9FEC (talk) 12:09, 1 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template. — JJMC89 (T·C) 20:39, 1 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Final years

The article says that first he "found it impossible to get work", and then "subsequently lost his job". Am I the only one who finds this strange? Shouldn't it rather say something like "impossible to get work for a while / a few years / <whatever is appropriate here>"? Or maybe explain what kind of job he eventually did get, and how? --BjKa (talk) 13:43, 11 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request

Obama later lost both legs in a second serious automobile accident followed by He never recovered his former standing during his last decade comes across as wordplay in bad taste whether intended or not. Please change "standing" to "status" or "reputation". -- 66.87.77.212 (talk) 15:00, 20 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Anglicanism or Seventh Day Adventism?

The article states that the young Obama "converted from Islam to Anglicanism when strongly encouraged by the staff" at his school. But the cited source states only "Christianity", not "Anglicanism", and later mentions that the school he attended was a Seventh Day Adventist school. So it is unlikely that he converted to a rival Christian denomination. Suggested edit: the too specific and probably incorrect "Anglicanism" to the more generic "Christianity". 192.161.72.42 (talk) 03:13, 24 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Barack Obama Senior work for oil company in Kenya

The article says that Obama Senior worked for an oil company in Kenya; the name of oil company is not given and there is no reference. I was interested from my own experience consulting with oil and gas companies worldwide, incl. Africa. I have seen reference to Obama Senior working in the oil industry in Kenya, followed by work in the Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Finance. Those references as well as the reference in this article are identical, verbatim; seemingly coming from the same original source (which is never given). This should have a reference since including it w/o reference begs the credulity of the statement.

Interestingly, Obama Junior's stepfather Lolo Soetoro also worked, after returning to Indonesia, in the oil industry, purely coincidental, and not a point for this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Danleywolfe (talk • contribs) 23:36, 16 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Now sourced. Alcaios (talk) 11:22, 14 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 30 March 2022

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

I wanted to edit his name under the short biography. It says Baraka instead of Barack and I wanted to make the nesscesary changes so others wouldn't be confused. Novakx (talk) 16:28, 30 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: That was his birth name. He changed it later, as is covered in the article. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:35, 30 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 9 March 2023

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Not moved, early close. (non-admin closure) SnowFire (talk) 05:28, 11 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Barack Obama Sr. → Barack Obama IBarack Obama I – His son was Born Barack Hussein Obama II. ErceÇamurOfficial (talk) 18:10, 9 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Comment. ErceÇamurOfficial: Are there any sources of him being referred to as "Barack Obama I"? I can only find "Obama Sr." or just "Barack Obama", not "I" in my spot-check of a number of the in the article and Googling. Skynxnex (talk) 21:07, 9 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose per my thoughts and others here. Skynxnex (talk) 16:25, 10 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose move. He's more commonly known as Obama Sr., not Obama I. O.N.R. ^(talk) 22:58, 9 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose move He is commonly kwown as Obama Sr as mentioned above and not as a Barack Obama I.Obama Sr is the COMMONNAME.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 23:02, 9 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose. There's no reason to do that. The redirect is more than enough. 〜Festucalex • talk • contribs 11:49, 10 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. Rreagan007 (talk) 18:27, 10 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Four

Ruth Baker is said to be Obama's third wife. Actually, he was married or allegedly married three times before the marriage to Baker. She should be called the fourth. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:23D0:687:E501:451B:9E4C:43FE:AA3F (talk) 15:33, 24 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Onyango Obama is his father, not him

Even though the article first states that he was born ‘Baraka Obama’, you keep referring to him as Onyango Obama, which is his father. He is the one who converted to Islam from Christianity in Zanzibar, Baraka converted from Islam to Christianity. Please don’t confuse him with his father Onyango Obama. That is former president Obama’s grandfather. Not father. 171.23.6.112 (talk) 23:29, 4 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Incorrect birth year

Obama Sr was in 1936, but the english wikipedia page incorrectly states 1934 ~2025-34726-56 (talk) 15:55, 20 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

See the two references in the article. They include a note about the 1934/1936 issue. If you have a better reference, please identify it. Johnuniq (talk) 01:58, 21 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]