Zaynab — Name Meaning in Islam

Root: the lexicographers differ, and it is worth saying so. Most take Zaynab as the name of a flowering, fragrant tree; others read it as a compound of zayn (beauty) with ab (father), "her father's ornament". The tree reading is the older and more commonly given.

From the related root ز-ي-ن: zayn (beauty, adornment), zīna (ornament — the Qur'anic word for the adornment of this life), muzayyan (adorned), Zayn, Zaynā.

Who carried it: Zaynab bint Muhammad ﷺ, the Prophet's eldest daughter; and Zaynab bint Jahsh, his wife, of whom the sources record that she worked with her hands and gave away what she earned. Zaynab bint Khuzayma, also his wife, was called umm al-masākīn — mother of the poor — for the same reason, and died within months of the marriage.

Spellings: Zaynab, Zainab, Zeynep (Turkish), Zainab (Indonesian, Urdu), Zineb (Maghrebi), زينب.

Pronunciation: ZAY-nab.

Note: three women close to the Prophet ﷺ carried this name, which is part of why it stayed common in every generation after.