لَعَمْرُكَ إِنَّهُمْ لَفِى سَكْرَتِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ ٧٢
By your life, [O Muḥammad], indeed they were, in their intoxication, wandering blindly.
عُمَيْر
Umair: meaning of the name
Boy Arabic origin ʿUmayr
CompanionDiminutive of ʿAmr or ʿUmar: “little life”, a wish for long life
Umair in Islam
At Badr the Prophet ﷺ said: “Rise to a Paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth.” ʿUmayr ibn al-Humam al-Ansari hoped to be among its people, and the Prophet ﷺ told him he was; he threw away the dates he was eating, saying that living until he finished them would be a long life, and fought until he was killed (Muslim 1901). To Anas’s little brother the Prophet ﷺ would say: “O Abu ʿUmayr, what did the little bird do?” (al-Bukhari 6129).
Meaning of the name Umair
ʿUmayr is a diminutive built on the root ʿ-m-r of life (ʿumr) and of settling and bringing prosperity (ʿimara): it is the diminutive of both ʿAmr and ʿUmar, with the affectionate nuance the diminutive often carries in Arabic. The Lisan al-ʿArab reports that a child was named ʿAmr “in the hope that he would live”: ʿUmayr carries the same wish for a long life. The meaning “intelligent” sometimes given to it does not come from the dictionaries.
- In Arabic
- عُمَيْر عمير
- Transliteration
- ʿUmayr
- Root
- ع م ر · 24 occurrences in the Quran
- Gender
- Boy
- Origin
- Arabic
Is Umair in the Quran?
The name Umair does not appear as such in the Quran, but its root (ع م ر) occurs 24 times. Examples:
إِنَّمَا يَعْمُرُ مَسَٰجِدَ ٱللَّهِ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ وَأَقَامَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتَى ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَلَمْ يَخْشَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهَ فَعَسَىٰٓ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَن يَكُونُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلْمُهْتَدِينَ ١٨
The mosques of Allāh are only to be maintained by those who believe in Allāh and the Last Day and establish prayer and give zakāh and do not fear except Allāh, for it is expected that those will be of the [rightly] guided.
قُل لَّوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَا تَلَوْتُهُۥ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَآ أَدْرَىٰكُم بِهِۦ فَقَدْ لَبِثْتُ فِيكُمْ عُمُرًا مِّن قَبْلِهِۦٓ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ ١٦
Say, "If Allāh had willed, I would not have recited it to you, nor would He have made it known to you, for I had remained among you a lifetime before it. Then will you not reason?"
All the words of the root ع م ر in the Quran (24 occurrences)
In the hadiths
Authentic
Sahih Muslim 1901
If I lived until I finished eating these dates of mine, it would be a long life indeed. So he threw away the dates he had then fought them until he was killed
Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions set out and reached Badr before the polytheists did. When the polytheists arrived, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Let…
قُومُوا إِلَى جَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَوَاتُ وَالأَرْضُ " . قَالَ يَقُولُ عُمَيْرُ بْنُ الْحُمَامِ الأَنْصَارِيُّ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ جَنَّةٌ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَوَاتُ وَالأَرْضُ قَالَ " نَعَمْ " . قَالَ بَخٍ…
Authentic
Sahih al-Bukhari 6129
The Prophet (ﷺ) used to mix with us to the extent that he would say to a younger brother of mine, 'O Aba `Umair! What did the Nughair (a kind of bird) do?"
إِنْ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَيُخَالِطُنَا حَتَّى يَقُولَ لأَخٍ لِي صَغِيرٍ " يَا أَبَا عُمَيْرٍ مَا فَعَلَ النُّغَيْرُ "
Is this name permissible?
No text or scholarly opinion concerns the name Umair in particular: the general rules of Islam apply.
Read the rules for choosing a name
This page is an aid to reflection, not a fatwa. For a personal case, ask a person of knowledge.
Writing Umair in each language
- French
- Omayr, Oumayr, Omair, Oumeir
- English
- Umair, Umayr, Omair
- Spanish
- Umair, Umayr
- Turkish
- Umeyr, Ümeyr
- Arabic
- عُمَيْر
Similar names
Same root (ع م ر)
- Aamirعَامِر “One who settles and makes prosperous”; inhabited, flourishing
- Ammarعَمَّار “One who builds and brings to life”; a man firm in his faith
- Amrعَمْرو “Life, lifespan”, a name given in the hope of a long life
- Imranعِمْرَان Name of the father of Maryam; Surah 3 is called “The Family of ʿImran”
- Umarعُمَر “Life, long life”, from the root ʿ-m-r; the name of the second caliph of Islam
- Umranعُمْرَان “Prosperity, the life of an inhabited, cultivated land”