JS,
Not at all uncommon.

a) Interesting JS.
Is that the etymology?
"Republican" doesn't actually mean to "publican" again; the way "renew" means to "new" again.

b) In English we refer to "the Ayatollah". This because as you know, Ayatollah is a title, not a name.

c) I've heard irritable Arabs say such things as "death to the Bush", meaning wishing a premature demise to our U.S. president. It seems they do this because they assume "Bush" is a title, and not a name. Or, they simply follow the convention of their culture; not having learned English sufficiently.
No insult intended. I'm sure they speak English better than I speak Arabic.

"when the bigots of this world have been privileged for as long as they have, to them equality feels like discrimination." shiftless2