Arabs have roamed the earth for many millennia; imagine how many names must be out there!
Not to mention the countless spellings and versions that are produced on a daily basis until today. Behind the Name, a website created in 1996 for learning about all aspects of given names, currently provides a list of Arabic names that are at least 60 pages long!
In total, there are currently 21,262 names on its database, which is considered “a fraction of what the scope entails”. Here is a microscopic sample out of the thousands of Arabic names with their corresponding definitions, some of which are of Turkish and Persian origins:
- ALI: “high, lofty, sublime”
- AMER: “prosperous, substantial”
- ABBAS: “austere”
- ABD AL-AZIZ: “servant of the powerful”
- BAHADUR: “hero, warrior, brave”.
- BAHIYYA: “beautiful”
- BAKR: “young camel”
- BARACK: “blessing”
- DALAL: “coquettishness” which comes from the word “coquette”, a young & flirtatious woman.
- DAWUD: Arabic form of DAVID
- DIMA: “downpour”
- DUHA: “morning”
- EBRAHIM: Persian form of ABRAHAM.
- FAKHRI: “honorary”
- FARAJ: “remedy” or “improvement”
- FATHI: “conqueror”
- FATMA: A Turkish and Azerbaijani form of FATIMAH.
- GHADA: “graceful woman”
- GHASSAN: “youth” in Arabic.
- HAFSA: “gathering”
- HAIDAR: “lion”
- HALA: “halo around the moon”
- HANI: “happy”
- IDRIS: Possibly means “interpreter”
- IHAB: “gift”
- IMAD: “support” or “pillar”
- ISKANDAR: The Arabic, the Indonesian, and the Malay form of ALEXANDER.
- JABBAR: “powerful” in Arabic.
- JABIR: “comforter”
- JAFAR: “stream”
- JUMANA: “pearl”
- KHADIJA: “premature child”
- KHALIL: “friend”
- LAMIA: “shining, radiant”
- LAMIS: “soft”
- LAMYA: “having beautiful dark lips”
- LINA: either “palm tree” or “tender
- MAHA: “oryx”, a variety of antelope that is said to represent beauty.
- MAHDI: “guided one”
- MAHMOUD: “praiseworthy”
- MARIAM: Form of Maria and of Biblical Greek, Georgian, Armenian, and Arabic origin.
- MUHAMMAD: “praiseworthy”
- RAYHANA: “basil”
- RAYYAN: “watered, luxuriant” in Arabic. According to Islamic tradition, this is the name of one of the gates of paradise.
- RIAD: “meadows, gardens”
- RIM: “white antelope”
- SABAH UD-DIN: “the morning of religion”
- SA’D: “fortune, good luck”.
- SADDAM: “one who confronts”
- SAHAR: “dawn”
- SALMAN: “safe”
- SALWAH: “comfort”
- TAL’AT: Possibly means “face, sight”
- TAREK: “he who knocks at the door” in Arabic. This is the Arabic name of the morning star.
- TASNIM: “a spring in paradise”
- UMAR: “populous, flourishing”
- USAMA: “lion”
- UTHMAN: “baby bustard”, a type of large bird
- WASI: “broad-minded, liberal, learned”
- YAHYA: The Arabic, the Turkish, and the Persian form of John.
- YASIR: “to be rich”
- ZAHID: “pious, devout”
- ZAHIR: “helper, supporter”
- ZAHRA: “brilliant, bright”.
- ZAKI: “pure” in Arabic.
- ZULFIQAR: “cleaver of the spine”