Alyaanah

Meaning of Alyaanah

Alyaanah (also spelled Alyana and Alianna) is an Arabic name for girls that means “great”, “high in rank and status”, and “high”, “lofty”, “tall”¹²³ The Sultan Qaboos Encyclopedia of Arab Names describes Alyaanah as:

عَليَانة
من (ع ل و) السامية المرتفعة القدر والمكانة.

Alyaanah

[Derived] from ʿuluww: The sublime one of exalted worth and elevated station, distinguished in honor and lofty in rank.⁴

Alyaanah is derived from the important Quranic root ʿ-L-A ( ع ل ا) which has connotations of height and loftiness, both in a physical sense and a metaphorical sense. This root is also the source of the name Ali.

Quranic References for the ʿ-L-A Root

قُلْ لَوْ كَانَ مَعَهُ آَلِهَةٌ كَمَا يَقُولُونَ إِذًا لَابْتَغَوْا إِلَى ذِي الْعَرْشِ سَبِيلًا (42) سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ عُلُوًّا كَبِيرًا (43)

Say: If there were gods alongside Him as they claim, then surely they would have sought a way to the Possessor of the Throne. Glorified is He and exalted high above what they say with great exaltation. (Quran 17:42-43)

فَأَوْجَسَ فِي نَفْسِهِ خِيفَةً مُوسَى (67) قُلْنَا لَا تَخَفْ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْأَعْلَى (68) وَأَلْقِ مَا فِي يَمِينِكَ تَلْقَفْ مَا صَنَعُوا إِنَّمَا صَنَعُوا كَيْدُ سَاحِرٍ وَلَا يُفْلِحُ السَّاحِرُ حَيْثُ أَتَى (69)

Then Moses conceived within himself a state of fear. We said: Do not fear, indeed you are the uppermost. And cast what is in your right hand – it will swallow what they have crafted. What they have crafted is but the trick of a sorcerer, and the sorcerer does not succeed wherever he comes. (Quran 20:67-69)

1. Habib Anthony Salmone, An Advanced Learner’s Arabic-English Dictionary, entry for: علي.
2. Arabic-English Lexicon by Edward William Lane , entry for: علو.
3. Ismāʿīl bin Ḥammād al-Jawharī, Tāj al-Lugha wa Ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿArabīya , entry for: علا.
4. Sultan Qaboos Encyclopedia of Arab Names , entry for: عَلْيَانَة.