I live in the US and want to give my child an American name. A name I really like is "Thomas", which, of course, is a Christian name. I thought it could be justified by Thomas, in the Bible, is a friend of Issa. But do we in Islam believe Thomas as Issa's friend? Thus I would like to know if it would be haraam to name my child "Thomas"?
Answer
Thomas is originally from Aramaic and means "twin". The general rule with baby names in Islam is that all names are acceptable unless they have a bad meaning. Since the meaning of Thomas is not bad, it is an acceptable name for a Muslim baby. Scholars generally do not recommend using names inspired by other religions, but this is only a preference and Muslims are not required to abide by it. The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, had a wife whose name was Marya, which is the Coptic Christians version of the name Maryam/Mary. Even though the name was from a Christian background, the Prophet approved of it and did not ask her to change it.
For cultural reasons some Muslims may disapprove of using Western/Christian names, so you will have to be prepared to deal with their disapproval and having to explain to them that it is an acceptable name. From a religious standpoint it is a perfectly halal name.
Reader Comments:
on Monday 3rd of August 2015 11:08:54 PM
this name is not acceptible for muslim .because it is christian name .please there are billions of muslim name you select one of them
on Monday 11th of January 2016 08:50:41 PM
@the commentor who said “this name is not acceptible”:
This name IS acceptable as it doesn’t mean anything bad. You don’t have to use only names in the Quran or any other Arabic name. I think more Muslims need to be eduacted about the naming practice as many seem to think non Arabic names are not good when Islam never states that.
on Thursday 3rd of June 2021 04:16:16 PM
Thomas is a Western European spelling of a very common name. It is the equivalent of Touma, Tuma, or Tumas. People often use names common to their geographic area and native language. This does not mean those people are more or less devoted to religious beliefs.
on Monday 13th of May 2024 04:42:06 PM
Thomas is a good name and meaning “twins”. It originally came from Aramaic, ‘toam’. Prophet Isa (Jesus) was speaking Aramaic and he wasn’t an Arab. Since Islam is a universal religion, any name of any language is also acceptable as long as they have good meaning. Islam never force anyone to change to Arabic names and Islam tell us to focus on our faith to Allah and read Quran. Simple as that. We muslims don’t care about people’s names. We focus to Allah. Arabic names and arabic culture are not linked to Islam.
on Monday 13th of May 2024 04:44:37 PM
I’ve seen some people convert to Islam from Christianity, still keep their names ‘Thomas’. No such thing as Muslim names/Islamic names, Christianity names. All names have no connection to any religious scared. Names are names!!!
on Saturday 2nd of November 2024 12:47:44 PM
We as Muslims need to move past this Arab- centric view of culture and names. Yes, the Quran is in Arabic, and Arabic is a very important language for us, and a beautiful one too. But Arabic names and culture are not automatically more halal or ‘islamic’ than ‘western’ or chinese, mexican, russian, japanese etc names. There are people who name their children things in Arabic that have nothing to do with the prophets or quran, just because they’re in Arabic? I am a revert and I have kept my original name, which fulfils the two ONLY requirements for a halal name (not worshipping another God, and not with a dirty or degrading meaning) and I CONSTANTLY have people asking me when I will change my name to an Arabic name… My name is Rose, and I’ve had people say I should change it to Warda because it is Rose in Arabic? Even my own in- laws, who are Arab, say this. I think having Muslims of different names actually is a form of Dawah that shows Islam is a unifying global religion for all who wish to join. But it’s the parents choice.