What is the real name of Altaïr, the protagonist of the first Assassin's Creed game?

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad is the full name of the protagonist of the first Assassin's Creed game.

Altaïr is an Assassin operating in the Holy Land in 1191, during the Third Crusade. After a mission fails, he is demoted and must regain his rank by carrying out assignments for the Assassin leader Al Mualim. His targets include influential members of both Crusader and Saracen society.

The name is Arabic: “Ibn-La'Ahad” is commonly translated as “son of no one.” Altaïr is also the Arabic word for “the flying one,” and the character's name is often rendered with different transliteration and diacritic conventions in English materials.

Desmond Miles is the modern-day protagonist who experiences Altaïr's memories through the Animus. Al Mualim and Malik Al-Sayf are important characters in Altaïr's story, but neither is the central playable Assassin.