Choheili family


Choheili or Chohaili is an Iranian and Iraqi Mandaean surname or family name. The Choheili family has produced many Mandaean priests. Notable people with the surname include:
  • Jabbar Choheili, Mandaean priest from Iran
  • Salah Choheili, Mandaean priest in Australia
  • Najah Choheili, Mandaean priest in Iran
  • Salem Choheili, a shganda and yalufa in Ahvaz, Iran
Mandaean priest and professor Brikha Nasoraia also belongs to the Choheili family. Ganzibra Taleb Doraji of Ahvaz is also connected to the Choheili family. Members of the Choheili family can trace their ancestry back to Adam Zakia, the father of Bihram Bar-Hiia, who lived around 1500 A.D.
19th-century Mandaean priest Yahya Bihram's uncle Yahya Yuhana, of the Kuhailia clan, was a prominent copyist and ganzibra.

In Mandaean colophons

Kuhailia scribes from the 15th to 17th centuries who are mentioned in the colophons of Mandaean texts include:
  • Baktiar br Adam Mhatam, Kuhailia
  • Bihram BrHiia br Adam Zakia, Kuhailia Baktiar, Kuhailia
  • Mhatam Zihrun br Baktiar/Yahia BrHiia, Kuhailia
  • Ram Kuhailia
  • Ram Yuhana br Yahia Baktiar, Kuhailia
  • Yahia Yuhana br Ram, Kuhailia
  • Zakia Zihrun br Ram Kuhailia
  • Yahia br Adam Kuhailia

    Neo-Mandaic

Most prominent members of the Choheili family, along with their family members, are fluent native speakers of Neo-Mandaic.