How to choose a name in Islam

When and how to name the child

Giving the child a name is a duty: Ibn Hazm reports the agreement of the scholars on this point (Maratib al-ijmaʿ). The Sunnah knows two moments: the day of birth itself — the Prophet ﷺ announced “A boy was born to me tonight and I named him after my father Ibrahim” (Muslim 2315) — or the seventh day, with the ʿaqiqa: “Every child is held in pledge by his ʿaqiqa: it is sacrificed for him on the seventh day, his head is shaved and he is named” (Abu Dawud 2838).

The Companions brought their newborns to the Prophet ﷺ, who named them, rubbed their palate with a chewed date (tahnik) and prayed for blessing for them (al-Bukhari 5467). The choice belongs first to the father, and nothing prevents a family from agreeing together. The child is attributed to his father: “Call them by the names of their fathers” (Quran 33:5).

References: Ibn Hazm, Maratib al-ijmaʿ; Muslim 2315; Abu Dawud 2838; al-Tirmidhi 1522; al-Bukhari 5467; Quran 33:5.

Any name with a good meaning is permissible

The starting rule is permission: “any name is permissible except what the Law has forbidden in itself or in its kind” (Dar al-Iftaʾ of Egypt, fatwa 16579). A Persian, Turkish, Berber or European name is therefore not forbidden because it is not Arabic; one only checks that its meaning is suitable and that it is not specific to another religion.

A man may bear a name that Allah also bears when the word is also said of created beings: ʿAli (“high”), Karim (“generous”), Hakim, Rashid. The Quran itself describes the Prophet ﷺ as “kind and merciful” (raʾuf, rahim, 9:128). The word then keeps its human meaning.

References: Dar al-Iftaʾ of Egypt, fatwa 16579; Bariqa mahmudiyya 3/234 (Hanafi school); Quran 9:128.

Changing one’s name

Changing a name with a bad meaning for a better one is recommended: this is what the Prophet ﷺ did (al-Tirmidhi 2839), changing for instance ʿAsiya to Jamila. When he suggested to a man named Hazn (“rough ground”) that he be called Sahl (“easy ground”), the man refused; his grandson Saʿid ibn al-Musayyib used to say that the roughness stayed in the family (al-Bukhari 6190).

A convert does not have to change a name with a suitable meaning: the Prophet ﷺ only changed names with a bad meaning, and most Companions kept theirs. Many nevertheless choose a Muslim name out of attachment to their new faith, which is permissible.

References: al-Tirmidhi 2839; Muslim 2139; al-Bukhari 6190, 6193; Abu Dawud 4956; Dar al-Iftaʾ of Egypt, “Changing a name for a better one”.

What you will not find here

Many websites attribute “personality traits”, a number (abjad numerology), a star sign or a dream interpretation to names, or claim that a name “opens the gate of Paradise”. None of this rests on any text: a child’s character does not depend on his name. We keep to the meaning of words, their history and what the Quran, the Sunnah and the scholars say.