Abdullah — Name Meaning in Islam

Root: ع-ب-د (ʿ-b-d), "to serve, to worship, to lower oneself before another". ʿAbdullāh is a compound of ʿabd, the servant or bondsman, with the name Allah — and the two words are one name, not two: the servant of Allah.

From the same root: ʿibāda (worship), ʿubūdiyya (servanthood), maʿbad (a place of worship), ʿĀbid (worshipper), ʿAbbād, ʿUbayd, and the whole family of names built as ʿAbd + a name of Allah — Abd ar-Rahman, Abd al-Aziz, Abd al-Karim.

Who carried it: Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's ﷺ father, who died before his son was born. Among the Companions it was carried by Abdullah ibn Masud, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Umar and Abdullah ibn Amr — four of the widest channels of transmitted knowledge in Islam. The Qur'an puts the phrase itself in the mouth of Isa: "I am indeed the servant of Allah" (Maryam 19:30). The sources report the Prophet ﷺ saying that the names dearest to Allah are Abdullah and Abd ar-Rahman.

Spellings: Abdullah, Abdallah, Abdollah, Abdulla, Abdullah (Turkish), Abdullah (Indonesian, Urdu), Abdallah (French/Maghrebi), عبد الله.

Pronunciation: ʿab-dul-LĀH, opening with ʿayn and stressed on the last syllable.

Note: Abdul is not a name on its own. It means "servant of the", and needs the word that follows it.

Feminine counterpart: Amatullah (أمة الله), built the same way from ama, the feminine of ʿabd.