Isa — Name Meaning in Islam

Origin: the Arabic form of the Hebrew Yeshua. The Qur'an uses ʿĪsā, and unlike most names it also gives him a title in the same breath: al-Masīḥ ʿĪsā ibn Maryam — the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary.

Who carried it: the Prophet Isa, one of the five ulū al-ʿazm, the messengers of firm resolve. The Qur'an names him some twenty-five times, more often than it names Muhammad ﷺ. He is described as born of Maryam without a father, given the Gospel, speaking in the cradle (Maryam 19:30, where his first words are "I am indeed the servant of Allah"), and raised to Allah rather than killed (an-Nisa 4:157-158).

Why the name matters in Arabic. ʿĪsā is one of the names the Qur'an keeps in a shape distinct from the Christian Arabic Yasūʿ, and Muslim usage has followed the Qur'anic form ever since.

Spellings: Isa, Eesa, İsa (Turkish), Isa (Indonesian), Isa (Urdu), عيسى.

Pronunciation: ʿEE-saa — the opening letter is ʿayn, from deep in the throat, and the final vowel is written with alif maqṣūra.

Note: the name is given freely across the Muslim world, in the same way Musa, Ibrahim and Yusuf are, since a prophet's name is a good name to carry.