This is slightly off topic but.. what do you think to really western names for children? For example, Adam, both a Muslim and English name. Maya, Aaliyah, Sarah etc etc. Would it be weird if there was a kid that plain and obviously looked Desi but had such an "English" name? ... if that makes any sense?
Or even the non-Arabic or non-desi pronounciation.
I prefer Noah and Sophiya to Noo and Sufia.
Re: Girl Names
^ me too!
you have to go with the environment your child is being raised in. if the meaning is solid or if its a prophet's name, then i don't think it should matter if the child looks desi but is named noah, for example, or adam.
arabic might be the language of islam, but arabs or desis are not the only muslims in the world.
for instance, i love amal and amalia for a girl. "amal" is arabic and means "hope/aspirations"-- in arab french-speaking countries like lebanon or morocco, the name changes to amelle, which i find even prettier, but it is still a derivative of "amal" and therefore still valid, so its in my top 5 for sure.
similarly, if you are living in the west, and choose to name your child after one of the prophets or angels, like noah, gabriel, adam, zachary, joshua or jonah, why should it matter?
i think people need to decide for themselves if culture or religion is more important- if culture is, then yes, you would give your child a desi name to make it a most basic cultural identifier of them being non-gora. if religion is, then it shouldn't matter.
but then you run into the whole thing about how we share these names with jewish people and are we allowed to name our children such that they might be mistaken for being jewish? frankly, in that scenario, i think its inevitable but i don't think that should matter because jewish people are "ehley kitaab" too, and i think that in islam, the meaning is most important.
personally, i love gabriel over jibreel/jibrael, and iA when/if i have son, thats what i'm going to name him.
Re: Girl Names
on a side note, you might want to research this, but as far as i know, we are not allowed to give names based on the malaikah (angels) or jinns.
Re: Girl Names
^ i looked into this when my cousin was named Mikyle and it is ok to name your child after angels. i also asked my grandfather who is quite learned and he said it was ok too. the link below says that some people say it is not allowed but the consensus is that the hadith prohibiting this cannot be verified.
what is not permitted, however, are Taha and Yaseen and i believe one more but i can’t recall which one. I know many people have named their children either/both of those, but the reason i’ve read is that the meanings of those words are not known- only Allah knows what they mean so it is not permitted.
i also came across this explanation for taha/yaseen on another site:
6. Just as it is disliked to name with the names of Surahs of the Quran such as: TaHa, Yaseen and other names of Surahs. This is the saying of Imam Malik (Ra) - Ibnul- Qayyim also said: “The saying of the common people that Yaseen and TaHa are from the names of the Prophet (SAW) is not correct, there is no ‘Sahih’ Hadith about it or any ‘Hasan’ Hadith, nor anything ‘Mursal’ [having a missing link between the Tabiee and the Prophet (SAW)], nor any narration from any Companion, but rather they are letters like ‘Alif Lam Meem’, ‘Ha Meem’, ‘Alif Lam Raa’ and the like.”
From: Home - Mode TheReligion
i think, in the end, whatever you choose to name your child, its always a good idea to run it past an alim or an imam to confirm.
Re: Girl Names
I am due tomorrow and I tell you finding a suitable name for a baby is so difficult, you like a name, but your family doesnt, or the spelling doesnt sound good, we have another problem that we live in a german speaking country, so here they prounance some letters differently, so its a big dilemma to find a name that will match in english, german and urdu. sigh*
if we have a boy, we have a name but for a girl we are uncertain.
what do oyu think of
Sarina - meaning peace
Mawiya (Mawiyah)- the essence of life, clear mirror
just two names that i want feedback on, i will come back with some more names later.
Re: Girl Names
^I like both names Saadia. Isn't the second one pretty similar to your daughters name?
We can’t name children after surahs? There is a surah Layl – about the Night…
^I like both names Saadia. Isn't the second one pretty similar to your daughters name?
Yes it is similar, now it is good or not so good to have two almost similar names.
My husband really likes the second name and I like the first one.
I will be back with some more names that come in consideration.
Re: Girl Names
definitely Sarina. the other one is a bit too hard to pronounce. what about Selena (greek, "the moon")?
since you only have a day, how about waiting to meet her to see what suits her best? :)
sahar, i think it applies to those particular surah's, Taha and Yaseen, and not all surah's. check with an imam?
1st time i am hearing that we can't name children after surahs because names such as taha and maryam are v common!
Re: Girl Names
y cant ppl just keep simple muslim names and have to show off.. by names such as tarina marina saleena sarina sabrina it looks soo desperado in my point of view..
Re: Girl Names
^ "desperado" for what?
What's a Muslim name? An Arabic name? Or are Turkish/Persian/Urdu names also Muslim? What makes them Muslim? Are Muslim names names from a language that many Muslims speak? MashAllah there are very few languages on this Earth that at least one Muslim does not speak.
Re: Girl Names
kya keh rehi ho.. kuch samaj mein nehi aaya meray..
Re: Girl Names
^ In ur point of view...what is a simple muslim name?
Just imagine if everyone was called Ayesha......
y cant ppl just keep simple muslim names and have to show off.. by names such as tarina marina saleena sarina sabrina it looks soo desperado in my point of view..
please kindly give examples of simple muslim names?
y cant ppl just keep simple muslim names and have to show off.. by names such as tarina marina saleena sarina sabrina it looks soo desperado in my point of view..
Sorry have to comment on this, came back from hospital and saw this ...
And what is your point of view, parents have a right to name whatever they like for their kid, a muslim name is a name that has a nice meaning and will make a good influence on the child's personality. it can be a word from Quran or arabic, persian, urdu language. You can name your child Fatima, Aysa, whatever you like but you have no right to say, some parents are desperate just because they like a name that doesnt have your definition of a 'muslim name'
Re: Girl Names
Hmmmm........I have some too:
Mehreen: **someone who speaks gud
**Sameen: precious
Saima: **One who fasts
**Rosheen: light
Naveen: new happiness
Mahira: energetic, capable
Annika: sweet faced
**Nashmia: **garden of flowers
**Andaleeb: **Nightingale
Sorry have to comment on this, came back from hospital and saw this ...
And what is your point of view, parents have a right to name whatever they like for their kid, a muslim name is a name that has a nice meaning and will make a good influence on the child's personality. it can be a word from Quran or arabic, persian, urdu language. You can name your child Fatima, Aysa, whatever you like but you have no right to say, some parents are desperate just because they like a name that doesnt have your definition of a 'muslim name'
Well said. :)
Re: Girl Names
what name did you choose, saadia? or is she not here just yet? :)
Re: Girl Names
my fav: Tehreem (surat tehreem-means one with chastity) and recently I heard this persian name Zersha (the protected one)