With regard to the poem "Abou Ben Adem", here's an excerpt from a Wikipedia article about the meaning of the male name "Abu":

"Ab means "father" in most Semitic languages (in Arabic, Abû), sometimes extended to Abba or Aba...

In the construct state, Abû is followed by another word to form a complete name, e.g.: Abu Mazen, another name for Mahmoud Abbas.

To refer to a man by his fatherhood (of male offspring) is polite, so that abû takes the function of a honorific, and the use of Abu to describe a man will cause his real name to fall into disuse. Even a man that is as yet childless may still be known as abû of his father's name, implying that he will yet have a son called after his father.

The combination is extended beyond the literal sense: a man may be described as acting as a father in his relation to animals, e. g., Abu Bekr, "the father of a camel's foal;" Abu Huraira, "father of kittens." In some cases, a man's enemies will refer to him in such a way to besmirch him, e.g. Abu Jahl, "the father of ignorace". A man may be described as being the possessor of some quality, as Abu'l Gadl, "father of grace," or "the graceful one;" Abu'l Fida, "father of devotion," or "the devout one." An object or a place may be given a nickname, such as Abu'l hawl, "father of terror," (the Sphinx at Giza). Abu'l fulus, "father of money," is frequently used to refer to a place where rumors have been told of a treasure being hidden there."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_(Arabic_term)