Islamic names
How to choose islamic names for children? (l. Neeley, palatka fl 32077)
Islam has laid down the basic principle of self-esteem for children by choosing a good name for them in an honest faithful manner. In particular, many hadiths are reported to educate them on these principles during their childhood. The prophet says, "every child is born naturally as a muslim (the one who submits to god), but parents change his religion either to christianity, judaism or zoroastrian." also the prophet (p.) said, " among the rights of children on parents are to choose a good name , educate him and prepare him for a good life". He also said, "parents have to choose a good name for the child, teach him, how to write and also prepare for his marriage'. Therefore, prophet (p.) changed the names of some companions after they became muslim, for example, the name "harb" which means "war", was changed to "silm" which means "peace", to indicate the principle of peace. Imam baqir (a.) said, "the best name is the one which indicates the worship of allah". Imam sadiq (a.) says, "we name every child born in our family "Muhammad" for seven days. Afterwards, we may change it". Imam kadim (a.) says, "the first thing which a father has to do is to choose a good name for his child".
There are three ways to choose an islamic name:
1. One is to choose one of the 99 names of god, adding to it the word 'abd' which means "servant". For instance, 'karim' to 'abdul karim', 'allah' to 'abdullah', and so on.(for detail see "beautiful names of god" q# 11)
2. Also, one may choose an islamic name by considering the occasions of the birth, if it coincides with the birthday or the death of any prophet (a.), companion, imam or important historical names, of those who have a great significant contribution to the islamic history. For example, one might select either their proper names or their nick names.
The following list highlights the important islamic occasions :
Rabi 'al-awwal: 1st of hijra: the migration of the prophet (p.) from mecca to madina
12th: martyrdom of imam hassan al-askari
17th: (52 b.h.): birthday of prophet mohammad (p.)
17th: (83 a.h.): birthday of imam ja'far al-sadiq(a.)
Rabi 'al thani:
8th: (232 a.h.): birthday of imam hassan al-askari(a.)
Jamada i:
5th (5 a.h.): birthday of zainab al-kubra (a.)
13th (11 a.h.) martyrdom of fatima al-zahra(a.)
Jamada ii:
20th (8 b.h.): birthday of fatima al-zahra(a.)
Rajab:
1st (57 a.h.): birthday of imam Muhammad al-baqir (a.)
3rd (254 a.h.): martyrdom of imam ali al-hadi al-naqi(a.)
10th (195 a.h.): birthday of imam Muhammad al-jawad(a..)
14th (62 a.h.): death of zaal-kubra(a.)
13th (23 b.h.): birthday of imam ali abn abi talib (a.)
27th (11 b.h.): mi'raj, the journey of the prophet(p.) to heaven.
Shaban:
3rd (4 a.h.): birthday of imam al-hussain (a.)
5th (38 a.h.): birthday of imam al-mehdi
Ramadan:
15th(3 a.h.): birthday of imam hassan al-mujtaba, al-zaki, al-sibt
21st (40 a.h.): martyrdom of imam ali (a.)
19th, 21st, and 23rd: the nights of qadr
Shawwal:
1st: idl al-fitr
25th (148 a.h.): death of imam ja'afar al-sadiq(a.)
Dhul qidah:
11th (148 a.h.): birthday of imam ali al-rida(a.):
29th (216 a.h.): martyrdom of imam Muhammad al-jawad(a.)
Dhul hijjah:
7th (114 a.h.): martyrdom of imam Muhammad al-baqir(a.)
10th: id-al-adha
15th (212 a.h.): birthday of imam al-hadi al-naqi (a.)
18th: id ghadir khum
Muharram:
9th: tasu'a
10th (61 a.h.): ashura-martyrdom of imam al-hussain(a.)
25th (94 a.h.): martyrdom of imam zain al-abidin al-sajjad (a.)
Safar:
7th (128 a.h.): birthday of imam musa al-kadim(a.)
20th: 40th day of arba'in 28th (11 a.h.): death of the prophet Muhammad (p.) 29th: martyrdom of imam al-rida(a.)
3. The third way to choose an islamic name is to select any common name used by muslims. The following list of names may be helpful These are arranged in three columns: the arabic name of male, female, and each followed by an english meaning and romanization.