Muslim boy names- help me please

[Sleeplessem]

I think I posted about this before, but I’m nearly 36 weeks and we still have no names, so MN to the rescue! So to set the scene, I’m white brit and dh is brit pakistani. V large extended family on dh side means all the names id choose from the big book of Muslim baby names are gone (Zachariah, Haris, shoaib, kamran, Adam, Ali, layth, zayan, Ismail, ayan etc)

People keep on crapping on the names we / I do like. None of DH know we’re having a boy but they’ve crapped on them in passing. They are also hypercritical because of my heritage (we’ll leave that one there and not touch it because it’s a whole other thread)

My family are also quite Britain first in their mentality (again whole other thread) Neither mental side’s feeling will be strictly paid attention too but tbh I can do without the grief we got for DDs name on both sides, it was f’ing relentless.

So so far we like kinda but not properly.::

Aiden or aydin

Deen but spelt Dean

Asher

Rayan- my family would def have a problem with this name but aside from that it’s v v popular- I know about 4/5 people with a son called rayan so it dulls it a little for me.

It’s this or succumb to the footballer names DH keeps on suggesting

• * [Edited by MNHQ to remove guideline-breaking comments] **

Aden is also an Arabic word for paradise (same root as the Garden of Eden).

I've worked with quite a few Muslim guys:

Tan (Tanweer)
Faisal
Naeem but we called him Nomi
Osman but we called him Ozzy
Mudassar but we called him Mudy
Asim
Hasham
Hussnain
Izmah - I like this one
Khaizhar
Zahid
Haidan
Waqas

I've heard of this name before - Iqra (I think it as spelt this way) such a beautiful name but not sure if it would be for a boy/girl?

Zakariah name of a close relative which is shame because I love the name.

Idris, I’m not really a fan, again shame because it’s versatile.

Tariq and Akhtar- not fans of either (tariq is taken too).

Boys names are so hard 😢

Aiden is a lovely name.

We live in a Muslim majority country and popular names among small boys include Adam/Adem, Zayn, Zaki, Elias (usually spelt that way rather than Ilyas), Sami. Idris is a great name. What about Issa?

I know a lot of Tarek/Hichem/Alaedins but they are in their 30s and 40s. Nice names but not very cool kid!

It's really hard to find a name that clicks for you and which doesn't belong to extended family members, isn't it? I've had a similar challenge with boys' names ("what about..." "no, that's my uncle").

What I found helpful was to go back to the Qur'an and Ahadith, and think about the characteristics of the people named there. Rather than thinking about people in the Dunya now, it helped me to think about the people who were among the best of people, who set examples in our faith for the rest of us to follow. That helped me come up with a shortlist of names that felt like they could give a child a good start in this life.

Families will always have something to say, and schoolchildren will always look for things to tease each other about, so don't let those put you off if a name feels right to you.

You could also try praying Istikhara for guidance about potential name choices.

We know a young Muslim lad named Ilya, I really liked it as a name in general

It’s so hard @Scirocco, so hard! Especially with big extended families.

We did that with my daughter’s name, we wanted something that meant blessing or miracle and her name just came to us…. This time it’s proving harder xx

in our family:
nejib
hichem
hamdi
redha
youssef
maher
samir
karim
sabri
jilani
oussama
nabil
sofien

Xavier.

Raza? Rayan? Aati? Faaris?

@surreymum89 I say Zak-ah-rye-yah, DH says Zak-ah-reeyah, mostly just gets called Zak 🤣🤣

• Farid (pronounced Fareed)
• Radwan (someone mentioned it above with the French spelling which I'd not advise in English)
• Bassem
• Abbas
• Ehab
• Diaa
• Helmi (my favourite because of its meaning)

I know a kid called Moudy who is an Ahmed, but never called that (a shame cos it's a nice name) but would it be an idea to think of nicknames like Mo that could be used on a daily basis?

Mohanned is also a fav of mine (with double N - not a typo).

@ZiggZagg ahh yes , my OH calls him Zak-ah-reeyah but I lean more towards Zak-ah-rye-yah, I'm just not sure it will be confusing for him, like you say for your son we also plan to call him Zak/zaki anyway but I suppose as he is a newborn we have been having a lot of appointments recently where we are asked for his full name and I stumble over the pronunciation because I don't know whether I should pronounce it the same as OH but it's nice to know you also each have your own way of saying it

I would go for Aiden (or any spelling variation thereof). Don't worry about the potential teasing thing. Aiden is a common enough name that it won't seem unusual to most children, and if a child is going to be teased, it won't matter what their name is, a bully will find something, sadly.

If you can't go with Aiden, then I would go with Sami as it's the only name you've said you like without coming up with a reason you can't use it. It doesn't sound like it's already taken in your DH's family?

Sohail
Deepak
Tariq
Mustafa
Ali
Adil
Aqeel
Richart
Waqar
Umar

Ibrahim

Yusef

@PearDropKid

Do you actually want to call him a Muslim name? I mean YOU, personally - or are you just going along with what you feel is expected of you?

This.

It's your child, after all

The poster has already said she's Muslim and wants a Muslim name for their child. Why are people questioning that? It's perfectly normal to want to give a child a name that has a connection with the faith and/or culture in which they'll be brought up.

Umar or Omar
Harris
Musa
Nuh or Noah
Yahya

Haider

Sufyan

Sulaiman (English Solomon) sully for short

I really like the name Malik for a boy. Or Malikah/Malika for a girl.

Other names:
Aadil/Adil
Nazeer/Nazier (Naz for short)
Idries (Idris Elba)

@Scirocco because she's picking the most English sounding names with very in-muslim sound and vetoing anything remotely Muslim sounding. And she's not Muslim as far as I can understand, her husband's family are