Category Archives: Pakistani Names

Tahmina, Tahmineh

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  • Origin: Persian تهمینه (Persian); Таҳмина (Tajik); তাহমিনা
  • Meaning: “potent; strong; powerful.”
  • Gender: Female

The name is derived from the Farsi تهم (tahm), meaning, “potent; strong; powerful.”

It’s a Persian female name with deep roots. It is the name of the wife of Rostam and the mother of Sohrab in the 10th-century Persian epic, Shahnameh.

Its usage has spread to South-Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as throughout Central Asia.

Between 1996-2002, it appeared in the U.K’s Top 500 Most Popular Female Names, peaking at #641 in 1999.

Notable bearer include Tajik actress, Tahmina Rajabova (b. 1982) and Iranian film director, Tahmineh Milani (b. 1960).

Other forms include:

  • Tahmina, Takhmina, Taxmina Тахмина, تهیمینه / تهمینه (Avar, Baloch, Bashkir, Chechen, Circassian, Kazakh, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Ossetian, Pashto, Tatar, Turkmen, Uzbek)
  • Təhminə (Azeri)
  • Tahmina, Tamina (Bosnian)
  • Tahmine (Turkish)

A rare Bosnian masculine form is Tahmin/Tamin.

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Sohrab

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  • Origin: Persian سهراب
  • Meaning: “red water”
  • Gender: Male

Sohrab (Persian: سهراب) is a classic Persian male name. It is most famous from the Shahnameh. In the epic, Sohrab is the heroic son of Rostam and Tahmineh. He is celebrated for his beauty and courage. He is known for his tragic duel with his father Rostam. It is one of the most famous episodes in Persian literature. His story has inspired countless Persian miniatures, operas, and poems. There are also even Western adaptations. One example is Matthew Arnold’s 19th-century poem Sohrab and Rustum.

Scholars derive it from Middle Persian, Suhrāv / Sōhrāv. It is composed of suhr / sohr (سهر) – “red, ruddy, rosy, dawn-colored.” The term āb آب means “water,” but in old compound names, it figuratively represents “essence, fluid, brightness, radiance.” The latter may also be related to آو / او (âv / ô / ow), which is an older or poetic variant meaning, “sound” or “voice.” In some historical compounds, it functions like âb to indicate “substance” or “radiance.”

The name appears not only in Iran, but is found across the Persianate world, including Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan. It also exists among Central Asian and South-Asian communities influenced by Persian literature, and Zurab ზურაბ is its Georgian form.

International variations include:

  • Zurab Зураб, ზურაბ (Abkhaz, Georgian)
  • Sohrab Սոհրաբ (Armenian)
  • Sührab, Süraab (Azeri)
  • Suhrab, Sukhrab Сухраб (Kazakh, Kyrgyz)
  • Suhrob سهراب, Суҳроб Суһроб (Kurdish, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek)
  • Sehrab, Sohrab سہراب (Urdu)

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Rawiya

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  • Origin: Arabic راوية
  • Meaning: “narrator; storyteller.”
  • Gender: Female

The name comes directly from the Arabic word راوية (rawiya), meaning “storyteller; narrator.” Another transliteration is Rawia, Rawiyah and Rawya.

It was borne by Rawya Ateya (1926-1997), the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world in 1957.

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Rubab

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  • Origin: Arabic رباب
  • Gender: Female

The name comes directly from the Arabic word رباب for a type of stringed instrument.

It was also the name of Rubāb bint Imraʾ al-Qays (b. 7th-century C.E). The wife of Husayn ibn Ali.

It is borne by Pakistani Olympic Swimmer, Rubab Raza (b. 1991).

Another transciption is Rabab.

Other forms include:

  • Rübabə (Azeri)
  • Robabeh ربابه (Persian)
  • Robab رباب (Persian)
  • Rübab (Turkish)

The name is used throughout the Islamic World.

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Sabih, Sabiha

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Sabiha Sultan
  • Origin: Arabic
  • Meaning: “comely; beautiful; handsome; graceful.”

Sabih صبيح is a masculine Arabic name which comes directly from the Arabic word, صَبيح (ṣabīḥ), meaning, “comely; beautiful; handsome; graceful.” It is ultimately derived from the Arabic root word, صبح (ṣabuḥa) “to be beautiful; to be radiant; to beam.”

Sabiha صبيحة is its feminine form. It’s feminine form was borne by Sabiha Sultan (1894-1971) an Ottoman princess, the third and last daughter of Sultan Mehmed VI; the first Turkish female sculptor, Sabiha Bengütaş (1904-1992); and Turkish combat pilot, Sabiha Gökçen (1913-2001).

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Zubaidah, Zubayda

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  • Origin: Arabic زُبَيْدَة (Arabic)
  • Usage: Arabic-speaking world, most of the Islamic world
  • Gender: Female
  • Meaning: “little butterball.”

The name is derived from the Arabic rootز-ب- د (z-b-d), which pertains to “cream, foam, butter,” along with the Arabic feminine diminutive suffix, roughly translating to “little cream” or “little butter,” having the same sense as “cream of the crop.”

This was the sobriquet of Zubaidah bint Ja’far (766–831), the wife of Harun al-Rashid. Borne as Sukhainah or Amat al-‘Aziz, she was known for her construction of wells and reservoirs along the pilgramage routes to Mecca and is featured in The Thousand and One Nights. Her life was later the inspiration behind the character of Zobeide in the German opera Abu Hassan by Carl Maria von Weber.

The Turkish form of the name, Zübeyde, was borne by an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Sultan Ahmed II, who lived from 1728 to 1756. It was also carried by Zübeyde Hanım (1856–1923), the mother of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The name appeared in the Top 100 most popular female names in Turkey between 1980 and 1986, peaking at #70 in 1981

It is also the name of an asteroid.

Other forms include

  • Zübeydə (Azeri)
  • Zubejda (Bosnian)
  • Zobeide (German, literary)
  • Zoubida (Maghrebi Arabic)
  • Zubaida Зөбаида (Tatar)
  • Zübeyde (Turkish)
  • Zubayda (Uzbek)

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Shanzae, Shanzay

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  • Origin: Persian شانزے
  • Meaning: royal woman; woman of dignity
  • Gender: Feminine
  • Use: Urdu, Persian

The name is composed the Old Persian elements Shah (royalty) or from the Old Persian phrase, Shah- an -zay (lit daughter of king/royal princess) or Shaan-zeh (Of dignity/magnificent).

This name seems to be exclusively used among Pakistanis, I could not find any information in any Persian sources or any indication of its use among Farsi-Speakers.

Other forms are Shanzeh and Shawnzay.

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Faaria, Faria, Farya

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  • Origin: Arabic فارعة
  • Meaning: “lofty; tall; towering; slender; slim; beautiful; handsome; pretty.”
  • Gender: feminine
  • Pronunciation: Arabic: fah-REE…AH; Urdu: FAR-yah

The name is derived from the Arabic word فَارِع (fari) which can mean “tall; lofty” and also “slim; slender” as well as “beautiful; handsome; pretty.” It is derived from the Arabic verbal root ف ر ع (f-r-‘) meaning, “to ascend.” The same root shares is also related فَرْع‎ (farʿ), meaning “tree branch; hair; mountain top; upper part,” which is why some websites list it as meaning, “beautiful hair.”

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Nuralain, Noorulain

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  • Origin: Arabic نور العين
  • Meaning: “light of the eye.”
  • Gender: feminine
  • Arab pron (NOO-roo-LINE); Urdu pron (NOO-rul-en)

The name is composed of the Arabic words, nur نُور (light), ul-Ain عَين (the eye; spring, fountain), hence it could also take on the meaning of “light of the spring or fountain.”

Noorulain or Noor-ul-Ain is a common name among Indian Muslims and Pakistanis, though it is not necessarily a name with strong religious connotations in the Arabic-speaking world itself.

It is the name of the female protagonist in a popular Pakistani romantic drama series of the same name (2018).

The Noor-ul-Ain is the name of one of the largest pink diamonds in the world and the tiara it is mounted in, which was made for Empress Farah Pahlavi’s wedding in 1958.

Other forms include the Malay and Indonesian, Norain, Nurain and Noorain.

Its Maghrebi forms are Noorelein, Noureleine, Noraleine, Nureleine & Nurelène which are sometime mistranslated by onomasticians as modern French or Flemish combinations of Nora & Madeleine, which may be the case in some instances.

Other transliterations include: Noor Alain, Nur Alain, Noor-ul-Ain, Nur-ul-Ain, Noraline, Noralin, Noralyn, Nour Elain, Nurelein, Nuraline, Nurelen, Nurelayne & Nuralyn.

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Safin, Safana, Safina

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Safin سَفِين is an Arabic male name that derives from the Arabic root, S-F-N س ف ن meaning, “ship.” Safin itself is the plural form and therefore means “ships.” The singular form of Safina سَفِينة (ship) is used as a female given-name. Another feminine form, which is Safana سَفّانة, literally meaning “boatwright” in modern Arabic derives from the same root but may have had a connotation of a precious gem or pearl in old Arabic and was also used as a term of endearment for a daughter.

The name is used in reference to “سفينة نوح” (safinat Nuh), which is Arabic for Noah’s ark.

Other forms include: Safeen (masculine), Saffanah (feminine), Safanah (feminine) & Safinah (feminine).

A Tatar form is Сәфинә” (Säfinä).

Safina is used throughout the Islamic world.

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