Choosing a Beautiful Name for Your Child: An Islamic Perspective
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A name is the first thing given to a child and the thing they will hear most often for the rest of their life. The Prophet said: on the Day of Resurrection you will be called by your names and the names of your fathers, so give yourselves good names.
What Makes a Name Good
The reports set out a short order of preference. The Prophet said the names most beloved to Allah are Abdullah and Abdurrahman — servant of Allah and servant of the Most Merciful. After them come the names of the prophets: he said, name yourselves by the names of the prophets.
Then names carrying a good meaning — mercy, light, faith, patience, generosity — and the names of the companions and of the righteous who came after them.
Names to Avoid
Names claiming what belongs only to Allah. Malik al-Muluk, king of kings, is named in the reports as the most displeasing name. The same applies to any name that makes a servant of anyone but Allah.
Names with a harsh or unfortunate meaning. The Prophet changed several: Asiyah, meaning disobedient, he renamed Jamilah, meaning beautiful. Harb, meaning war, he changed to Silm, peace. A person carries their name into every room, and a meaning they must explain or apologise for is a weight they did not choose.
Names that make a claim about the child's piety. The Prophet changed the name Barrah, meaning righteous, saying: do not declare yourselves pure. He renamed her Zaynab.
For a Child in a Non-Muslim Country
A name that cannot be pronounced where the child will grow up becomes something they spend their life correcting. Many families choose a name that is Arabic and also readable in the local language — Adam, Maryam, Yusuf, Sara, Isa, Nur, Amir, Layla, Zayd, Yasmin all cross easily.
This is not a compromise of the religion. The criterion in the reports is the meaning, not the difficulty.
Practical Points
Say the name out loud with the surname before deciding. Names that are beautiful alone can be awkward together.
Say it the way an adult would be addressed at work, not the way a baby is spoken to. The child will be an adult far longer.
Check the meaning in a dictionary rather than on a list. Many popular baby-name sites carry meanings that are invented or transferred from another language.
Avoid a name whose short form has a meaning you would not choose.
The Sunnah of Naming
The child is named on the seventh day, at the aqiqah, according to the report of Samurah: every child is pledged for his aqiqah, sacrificed for him on the seventh day, and he is named on it and his head is shaved. Naming earlier is also established; the Prophet named his own son Ibrahim on the night he was born.
The father chooses, but consultation is the practice, and disagreement over a child's name is not a thing to carry into the child's first year.
A Name Is Not a Destiny
The Prophet renamed people whose names carried the wrong meaning, which means the tradition treats a name as something that can be changed rather than a fate that has been fixed.
Give a name whose meaning you would be glad to hear said about your child at forty. That is the whole test.