Lina — Name Meaning in Islam

Root: ل-ي-ن (l-y-n), "to be soft, gentle, yielding". Two readings sit behind the name, and both are classical. Līna is read from layyin, soft — hence tender, gentle. It is also the Qur'anic word līna, a young palm tree: "whatever palm trees you cut down, or left standing on their roots" (al-Hashr 59:5). Palm growers used the word for the slender, supple young tree, so the two senses are one image.

From the same root: layyin (soft — the Qur'an tells Musa and Harun to speak to Pharaoh qawlan layyinan, a gentle word, Ta-Ha 20:44), līn (softness), alāna (to soften — "and We softened iron for him", of Dawud, Saba 34:10), mulāyana (dealing gently).

Spellings: Lina, Leena, Lena, Line (Turkish uses Lina; Leyla is a different name), Lina (Indonesian), Leena (Urdu), Lina (French), لينا / لينة.

Pronunciation: LEE-na, stress on the long first syllable.

Note: Lina also exists independently in European languages as a shortening of Carolina, Angelina and Magdalena. The Arabic Līna and the European Lina are separate names that happen to have arrived at the same sound — worth knowing rather than blurring.

Masculine counterpart: none in common use.