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I have tried to read most of the anwers you gave the questions. I understood that you are well coming all the names as long as they have a good meaning. Does it mean I can call my children with the names like Chloe, William, Jana etc.. I mean with non-Islamic but Christian or Jewish names?

Answer

This is an official answer by QuranicNames.com Staff

You are right, you can use Chloe, William, or Jana for a Muslim baby. Islam doesn't contain any rules regarding names, but the Prophet, peace and blessings of God upon him, is known to have disliked names with negative meanings, such as Harb (Arabic for "war").

In Iran, even though the majority of its people are Muslim, they use many names taken from Pahlavi origins, whose religion was the pre-Islamic Zoroastrianism religion.

In Kurdistan, the Kurds, even though 99% of them are Muslim, they name most of their children names that come from Kurdish, Greek, Russian, and other cultures, rather than from Arabic/Islamic origins.

Most scholars would recommend that you use an Islamic name so that your children would have "a stronger Muslim identity". But names aren't a big deal in Islam, and for the most part you can use whatever name is easy to use in your culture, and there are very good reasons as well for using Western-style names. A person with a Western name will have a better chance at bringing the understanding and acceptance of Islam to the West, and will be able to live and interact less problematically with the people.

The scholars in, say, Saudi, would be shocked if a Saudi couple named their children "Joshua", because this is an obvious breaking away from the Arab/Islamic culture of Saudi. But in Kurdistan, Iran, or Turkey, they have successfully embraced Islam without having to give up their culture. There is no reason why people in the West can't do the same thing. Nobody complains about a Muslim Kurd naming his/her child Kawa (Kaveh in Persian), who is a pre-Islamic mythical hero. A British person has the same right to name his/her child Arthur, after King Arthur.

Thus Islam gives you the freedom to use Christian and Jewish names, it all comes down to cultural considerations. Using a Christian name in Saudi may not work so well, but in Germany it may even lead to better results for the child compared to using an Arabic name.

You may find people who will make a big deal out of names. But for cultures that embraced Islam early, such as the Kurds, Persians, or Turks, even though the vast majority of their populations are Muslim, they never make it an issue what name you choose for your baby, and both Islamic and non-Islamic names are equally accepted.

The Prophet himself, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, had a Coptic wife who came from the Christian culture of Egypt and whose name was Maria, and he didn't ask her to change her name.

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Reader Comments:

  1. on Friday 30th of October 2015 07:23:12 AM

    if you give this kind of name people take them as Christian name is identification of the person
    in our islam you can find better name and some names are like same ibrahim and there are many other name

  2. on Tuesday 13th of December 2016 09:59:00 PM

    Never seen a worse answer than this .. extreme lack of Islamic knowledge

  3. on Saturday 24th of December 2016 07:58:28 PM

    @1st Anonymous:
    “if you give this kind of name people take them as Christian name is identification of the person”

    Um, if Islam is telling us we can name our children any name of any language that has a good meaning why are you arguing against what the religion is allowing us to do?

    I think you’re worrying too much about the simple concept of a chosen name. People WILL know a person is Muslim by the person’s ACTIONS. Stop worrying what others think and pick a name that YOU love. 🙂

    “in our islam you can find better name and some names are like same ibrahim and there are many other name”

    I don’t know why you think Islamic names are superior when a lot of names of other cultures happen to have good meanings? After all, we’re allowed to give out children names with good meanings?

    @2nd Anonymous:
    This answer is NOT “a worse answer” with “extreme lack of Islamic knowledge”. The answerer IS correct. In Islam you can name your child ANY NAME of ANY ORIGIN as long as the meaning is NOT BAD. I would say it’s YOU who has “extreme lack of Islamic knowledge”. 🙂


    lol okay as you can tell from my need to respond & correct both these people I feel VERY strongly about this topic. I have seen a lot of Muslims judge other Muslims over little things like choosing non Arabic names & it REALLY irritates me when we’re ALLOWED to use names of ANY ORIGIN! ><

  4. on Tuesday 24th of April 2018 05:29:18 PM

    Well said to the person above.
    The meaning is the most important aspect, I find it so frustrating that people impose their own views as fact. An Arabic name will not make the person more religious. When I reverted I was told I had to change my name even though my actual name has one of the strongest meanings you can have, shows how ignorant some people are.

  5. on Thursday 24th of December 2020 10:26:57 PM

    As a Christian I like this answer. But why does Muslim feel the need to convert the world to Muslim, why cant we be what we are with love and peace together?

  6. on Sunday 29th of August 2021 05:18:16 PM

    “As a Christian I like this answer. But why does Muslim feel the need to convert the world to Muslim, why cant we be what we are with love and peace together?“

    Ironic coming from a Christian

  7. on Wednesday 19th of January 2022 04:06:53 AM

    God bless you. One of the best arguments about naming and names.

  8. on Friday 20th of January 2023 09:31:19 PM

    Essentially if the 3 Abrahamic faiths are monotheistic then why do Catholics convert to Islam to marry the female? Please can someone explain this respectfully thank you

  9. on Wednesday 25th of December 2024 07:35:27 PM

    “As a Christian I like this answer. But why does Muslim feel the need to convert the world to Muslim, why cant we be what we are with love and peace together?“

    Read your own BS history first, Christians especially the Catholic and White ones caused mayhem so yea Christian shit, stfu

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