Modern sounding Muslim baby boy names please :)

[Sleeplessemma]

Hi all,

I’ve just found out I’m having a baby boy, so I’d love some more modern sounding baby names suggestions. The reason I say modern is my family are white British so are very hostile to anything ‘too exotic’ (for want of a better phrase). My hubby’s family is quite large so a lot of names have been taken:

Already gone is zakariya, ali, Harris, kamran, zaid, zayn, zayyan, isa, musa (and about a million others)

So far we like: Deen, Aydin /Aiden and Rayan.

Any other suggestions? We already have girl named Ayah XX

my mother still refuses to pronounce my daughter’s name properly because she has an ‘aversion’ to it

Wow. I think you might be letting people get away with too much, you know. Stand up for yourself a bit.

for years they tried to rename me... I’ve been called Miriam, Khadijah and iman by them

Double wow. And your DH allowed this? I think you both might be letting people get away with too much!

They only feel this entitled because you back down straight away. I get not liking confrontation, but it's not a good example to your kids to show them that they should allow themselves to be disrespected for an easy life.

I like Laith and Mehdi

What about Raef?

@Puntastic,
Oh each time my mother intentionally mispronounces my LGs name, she gets put in her place, especially as she is nearly 2 so my mother has had 2 years to practice and it’s an easy word to say, let’s be honest lol.

Re hubby letting other people rename me. Luckily it’s stopped now, as I’d just respond with that’s not my name, I don’t know who that is. DH on the other hand, it’s taken him a good few years to grow a bit of a backbone to family. It’s a very cultural thing to never talk back or disagree with elders, frankly even if they are being abusive. Allows for a total toxic abuse of power and bullying if you ask me.

@OdeToAutumn I’m not too sure about Mehdi but I do like laith.

@PegasusReturns I’ve not heard Raef before, I’ll look it up! X

I think there was a "Raif" in my class when I was little. He was from Saudi Arabia. Laith is nice too. "Harris" (from Harrith--guardian) is very easy on Western ears too.

Raef is Arabic but not common. Pronounced Ray-Eff

Where I live Idris and Yazin are popular.

There’s also Zain, Laith, Hatim, Ammar, Jamal, Joud, Jad.

His family at first didn’t even believe Ayah was a Muslim name, they were adamant we changed it Anaya or something more Pakistani 😑

Quite honestly OP, if your husbands family didn’t know Ayah was a Muslim name I wouldn’t be considering them at all when it comes to naming baby.

Also, it is ok to have children with the same name within a family. Or is that something you’d not prefer.

You really seem to be bending over backwards to please everyone and I can well understand why but honestly you’re making a rod for your own back and now could be the time to start easing up a bit.

I’m 45 years into this now and so much of the thoughts that go through our heads in the early years just don’t matter one little bit.

Haydar or Haidar 😊

@BananaBoatFeet it’s a little funny that they didn’t know Ayah was a Muslim name. Funnier still was that the ‘feedback’ came from a ‘hajji’. That’s me being petty.

We want a Muslim name for us and would rather ( personal preference) if it wasnt used by immediate family. But in all honesty we won’t really consider his family too much in this thought process, it’s more that they’ll inevitably have (stupid) opinions that they’ll voice after. We’d never hear the end of it if we chose a purely ‘English’ name though.

Having a more modern Muslim name is important for a few reasons, some very superficial. I worry about getting on in the UK as he grows up without prejudice and constantly having to tell people how to pronounce his name. I quite prefer the less traditional names in general, and my family wouldn’t accept a strong Muslim name.

Abaan, afran and abyaz are modern trendy names. For a complete list See Islamic names for boys with meanings.

I know a Raiess - pronounce ry-ees

Idris
Ramzi
Rami
Ayman
Jericho
Emil