Khulusi suggested that the family name originated from Zubayr,[21] an autonomous province in the Ottoman Empire ruled by an Emir (or Shaykh), hence 'Shaykh Zubayr', a name which he suggested was then anglicized to Shakespeare. Khulusi notes that Shakespeare had many variations in the spelling of his name, including hyphenated forms. He suggests that a name that is unusual may produce many written versions, and that the hyphenated variants, such as 'Shake-speare', could reflect an original that is composed of two parts.