The edited volume Transnational Connections in the Arab Gulf has played an important role in identifying a certain disconnect between the transnational foundations of the major Gulf ports and the contemporary processes of what Madawi Al-Rasheed calls “localizing the transnational.” In an effort to articulate a unified local identity, emphasis has been placed on the Arab origins of the Gulf population. For the Gulf nationals with transnational origins, this has led to particular practices to assert their belonging to the national community. This paper takes the Kuwaiti Houla community, (Sunni migrants from Iran) as a case study of one transnational community that has redefined itself in such a way that expands its cultural capital within Kuwaiti society. Employing interviews and recent popular publications such as Tarikh ‘Arab al-Houla and Tarikh ‘Arab al-Houla wa al-‘Utub it will look specifically at the emergent historical narrative of the relationship between the Houla and territories in the Gulf. The paper will explore Houla attempts to legitimate their “belonging” in the region with regard to their origins, the conditions of their emigration from the south of Iran, and finally their contribution to the early settlement in Kuwait. In doing so the paper illuminates specific ways in which the Houla have adapted themselves to the dominant culture. Finally in an attempt to texturize this narrative, the research also takes a quantitative approach towards understanding this social navigation by analyzing the trends in naming patterns (as found in voter registration records) of two Houla families in the past century. Theoretically this paper explores the conceptualization of both citizenship and nationality in Kuwait and how that relationship has changed over time at particular historical intervals. It will argue that the Houla have undergone and continue to undergo processes of boundary dissolution, reconstruction and affirmation that at once incorporate them into the Kuwaiti nation and yet maintain internal group solidarity and distinction. It will discuss the appeal of pursuing these two seemingly contradictory strategies in light of changing ideas of what it means to be a Kuwaiti.