sufjan is an arabic name that famously belonged to abu sufyan, a man from early islamic history. the name was given to stevens by the person who founded subud, a spiritual community. stevens said in an interview, "it sounds like devendra banhart kind of grew up in this strange kind of cultish environment, and i don't mean that word in a demeaning way. i think we probably come from similar backgrounds. there's a little bit of that in my history."