Home › Forums › Question and Answer › Justification for alternate spelling of names
This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by Noor 9 years, 2 months ago.
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SabinaAsalamalaikum,
For each name listed on this website alternate spellings are listed along with the statement “All of the above spellings are acceptable for this name. You may also create your own spelling.” However as the spelling changes in English so too does the pronunciation.
For example, I have chosen to name my daughter Mefaz, picking this spelling from the page on ‘Mafaz’. However there is no Arabic word with the spelling “M kasra F fatah Z” that would correspond to the English spelling.
What then can I give as justification for acceptance of the alternate spelling that I have chosen for my daughter?
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NoorBeing different languages, there are different ways to transliterate Arabic script using the English alphabet. The name of Prophet Yusuf a.s. is spelt variously as Yusof, Yousef, Yusef, Yousuf etc., but they are pronounced the same.
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In addition to what Noor said, Arabs from different regions pronounce the same words differently, therefore Mefaz is a perfectly proper Arabic pronunciation.
In addition to this, many Arab parents choose to modify a name to make it sound more interesting. For example, the name Lanah (pronounced Laa-nuh) becomes Laanaa if they like this new pronunciation better. There is no issue with this since there are no grammatical requirements for names.
Turkish Muslims use Mehmet to mean “Muhammad”, even though they are two extremely different pronunciations. And this is alright. Different people and different cultures are free to modify names to their own liking. The only Islamic requirement for names is that it should not have a bad (un-Islamic) meaning. This gives parents great freedom to choose the names they like or modify existing names.
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