Following is some information concerning the occurrence of Muslim names in Oromo genealogies from non-Muslim areas of Ethiopia. This article also wanders into many other areas....correction of errors is welcome....

--' During the migration, they (the Oromo) moved across land where there were Muslim populations, such as the Hadiya, whom they adopted and who were eventually assimilated. In the process of the migration, the Hadiyas, and perhaps also some Muslim Oromo, lost their Islamic religion, but retained their Muslim names. It was because of this phenomenon that we find Muslim names in the genealogies of the various Oromo groups." (1)

--' Hadiya clans among the Arsi-Oromo are frequently recognizable by their corrupted Arabic denominations, e.g. Fakissa = "Fakih Isa"; Shedamma = "Shaykh Adam"; Alli = "Ali"; Djafarra = "Djafar". (2)

The above references show that an Oromo from western Wellega could justifiably call himself "Son of Hadiya" as well as "Son of Oromo."[if he chose to emphasize his multi-ethnic heritage]

Incidentally, one of the most famous Queens in Ethiopian history, Ite Jan Zela (Queen Eleni) was from Hadeya. She was the daughter of Gerad Mehmad, a Muslim ruler of Hadeya and married Emperor Ba'eda Maryam (1468-1478). Converted to Christianity, she was the Regent for her grandson Lebna Dengel, and the author of two Ge'ez works on theology. (3)

SON OF OMOTIC (?)
Who were the original inhabitants of Wellega prior to the Oromo conquest? Some people note the remains of a 15th century palace attributed to Zera Yacob (Jibat forest), and refer to maps showing the historical region of Damot used to be located here. This is not current day Damot district in Gojjam or Damot Gale district in Welaita. Nor is it the pre-Aksumite Damot kingdom of northern Ethiopia.

However, based on the current distribution of languages in western Ethiopia, it appears that Omotic speakers inhabited a large portion of the area. Although the main bulk of Omotic speakers are now found south of the Gojeb river (Keffa Region and Omo valley), isolated Omotic enclaves are still found in south Gojjam and western Wellega. One significant Omotic remnant occurs adjacent to Dembi Dollo (Mao and Mes speakers). (4)

Without doubt, a large number of these people were absorbed into the Oromo cultural sphere. We have already noted the gabbaro revolt of 1618 (when Makko Billi was killed). Nilotic speakers also live in this area (eg Gumuz), but unfortunately, it appears that they were excluded from the traditional assimilation into Oromo society through mogassa. (5)

SON OF SEMITIC (?)
Aside from the obvious Zwai people (along with their 13th-century monastery), isolated Semitic-speaking enclaves can still be found scattered within current day Oromia.

In the east, the Harar Oromo absorption of Semitic Harala ethnic groups is noted:

--" The ancestors of the Barentu-Oromo occupied the Harar Plateau from the 1570's onwards and gradually assimilated the Semitic-speaking Harala and Harari. However, Harar itself survived as a Muslim town and subsequently played an essential role in the Islamization of the Oromo conquerors." (6)

The vast plateau of Shoa (in the center of the present Oromia region), contained many Amharic speakers. This used to be the center of the Shoan Amhara kings (not talking about highland Bulga, Menz and Minjar). Debre Libanos - the most important monastery in Ethiopia, and the location where Gran burned 400 monks is located here. Clearly many Amhara were assimilated into the Oromo ethnic group here.

To the west an interesting situation occurs. According to some linguists, the presence of large numbers of Amhara and Tigre names in the clans of the Omotic speakers raises questions about the origin and degree of interaction between Omotic and Semitic. The presence of remnant Semitic speakers in the vicinity of Lake Wonchi (west Shoa) indicate the likely pre-Oromo contact area between Omotic and South Ethiopian Semitic is located there. [Note Gonga is Omotic language]

--" Kafa and all the other Gonga languages are descended from an ancestor, proto-Gonga, which must have been very strongly influenced by old South Ethiopic (Semitic), not Ge'ez or Tigrinya and not simply modern Amharic, but ancient South Ethiopic. As others have pointed out, there are lots of clan names among the Kafa, which must be Amhara or Tigre in origin."(7)

--" A great record of central Ethiopian culture history is locked up in very complex lexical interchanges among south Ethiopic, North Omotic, and Highland East Cushitic. Oromo and Amharic lie like huge blankets over all this, as if seeking to conceal the past and its diversity."(8)

ETHIOPIA AS ORIGINAL HOME OF SEMITIC (?)
After re-examining the linguistic evidence, some scholars are advancing the theory that the origin of South Ethiopic (or South Ethiopian Semitic) and Semitic itself is Central Ethiopia:

--" Alternative to the traditional theory of Ethiopian Semitic origins in South Arabia is that South Arabian and indeed all of Middle Eastern Semitic is the secondary population, and that the Semitic family originated in Ethiopia, in central Ethiopia, where Ethiopian Semitic and Afroasiatic language diversity, in terms of number and divergence of languages is greatest (Hudson 1977, 1978; see recently also Rogers 1991)."(9)

WELLO IN WELLEGA
We have not even mentioned Wello and Yejju, but they come into the picture of Wellega during the 1980s resetllement of Wello peasants in Western Wellega (near Dembi Dollo). The OLF did not attack them in 1991, but simply emphasized that most Welloyea's used to be Oromos before they became Amharas.(10)

BORANA OROMO
Current political interests may see it useful to create an exclusive genetic history to promote ethnic unity. "Facts mingle with myth and fantasy, and a new perception of the past is created that is glorious, pure, and exclusive." (11)

For example, simply stating the fact that the Borana do not count their descent from "Orma" or "Oromo" and most did not even know the term "Oromo" creates such hostility in some quarters that one can be labeled "an outrageous liar." However the evidence is available from the scholars: Here is Mohammed Hassen; (The Oromo of Ethiopia):-

--" At the time of the sixteenth century migration, the Oromo consisted of two powerful confederacies, the Borana and the Barentu. In the national myth, Oromo was the father of both. But in the separate Borana genealogy, the Borana had a separate "father" called Sapera." (12)

--" At this point it must be stated clearly that there was no such thing as a "pure" Oromo tribe derived from a single founding father. The history of the Oromo people is not a collection of histories of individual tribes or groups of tribes, but a story of fusion and interaction in which all tribes and groups had been altered and been transformed constantly. This was made possible by a dynamic Oromo institution (gada), the process of adoption, continual migration, conquest, assimilation, and interaction with other ethnic groups." (13)

Again, with specific reference to the Borana; generally regarded as the "purest" of the Oromo:

--"The term 'Oromo' was simply unknown to many ordinary people. People regarded themselves as being Boran, Garre or Gabra." (14)

CONCEPTS OF THE NATION STATE
The following quote which was written in respect to Somaliland, seems to have some bearing on why issues of origin and descent are so politically contentious in some quarters....

--" There are two modern concepts of the nation state: one is the Germanic concept of Herder, rooted in its notions of 'Blood and Soil', emphasizing a shared organic inheritance. The other is the Latin concept illustrated by Ernest Renan and based on 'The Will to Live Together', which makes a nation the result of a conscious historical process. Somaliland has recently chosen the path of Renan after experimenting with the path of Herder." (15)

Here is another quote that was written with Sri Lanka in mind:

--" Newly centralized and unified polities invent and interpret myths to justify their exclusive rights to habitation in a given locality and to subordinate or exclude those defined as others. Accounts of the past are embellished and interpreted through the perspective of present-day ethnic and other group identities... The present...shaping the past." (16)

CONCLUSION
Basically one could summarize the genealogical discussions with the words "Son of Ethiopia." This is using "Ethiopia" in its best and truest interpretation which mixes genes, culture, history and identity.

However, identity (especially national identity) is such a dynamic concept that only the individual himself should define it. It shouldn't be imposed by some political party (ethnic or non-ethnic) although that appears to be common practice.

Notes

(1)	Ulrich Braukamper, 19xx. "Medieval Muslim Survivals as a Stimulating Factor In The Re-Islamization Of Southeastern Ethiopia." (This article was posted in this ng last year)
(2)	Mohammed Hassen. 1994. "The Oromo of Ethiopia."
(3)	Richard Pankhurst. 1996. "The Truth about Old-Time Ethiopian Dynastic Marriages"
(4)	Bender and Fulass 1976. Map - "Distribution of Mother Tongues in Ethiopia" in the book "Language in Ethiopia"
(5)	Alessandro Triulzi. 1996. essay in the book "Being and Becoming Oromo."
(6)	Braukamper, 19xx.
(7)	Harold Fleming. 1982. "The Importance of Mao in Ethiopian History."
(8)	Fleming. 1982.
	Here is another quote from his paper. [Note that Bosha is an Omotic enclave in an extreme Southern Oromo area near Janjero.] --" Consider the case of our old Bosha informant, probably close to 100 years old today, who could not recognize "damo" [blood] as an Amharic loan word because she did not speak Amharic and never had, and neither had her people. Their conception of Ethiopia's national language was Oromo. Bosha shares the old South Ethiopic loan words, and has some specifically Amharic loan words from the medieval periods, but lacks anything from 20th century Amharic."
(9)	Grover Hudson. 1994. Agaw Words in South Ethiopian Semitic?
(10)	Alula Pankhurst. 1992 "Resettlement in Ethiopia"
(11)	H. L. Seneviratne. 1997 "Identity, Consciousness and the Past"
(12)	Mohammed Hassen. 1994. "The Oromo of Ethiopia."
(13)	Mohammed Hassen. 1994. "The Oromo of Ethiopia."
(14)	Gunther Schlee. 1994. "Islam and the Gada System as Conflict-Shaping Forces in Southern Oromia." see also: Abdullah Shongollo. 1996. in the book "Being and Becoming Oromo." ---apparently copied from G.Schee.
(15)	Gerard Prunier, 1994. "Somaliland: Birth of a New Country?" [Incidentally this is the book in which Alex de Waal coined the term 'Abysinnian Fundamentalist"]
(16)	H. L. Seneviratne. 1997 "Identity, Consciousness and the Past"