- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “praise; glory.”
- Pron: (SOOB-hahn; soob-HAH-nah)
Both names come from the Arabic root s-b-ḥ (س ب ح), which conveys the ideas of glorifying, praising, swimming in or moving through the divine.
- Subḥān (سُبْحَان) literally means “glory,” “exaltedness,” or “praise”—as in the Qurʾānic phrase Subḥān Allāh (“Glory be to God”).
- The feminine form of Subḥāna / Subhana (سُبْحَانَة) carries the same meaning.
Subhan is a well-established male Muslim name across the Arabic-speaking world, South Asia, and other Islamic cultures.
Subhan has appeared in the U.K’s Top 1000 Most Popular Male Names between 1996-2024. It peaked at #384 in 2011. As of 2024, it was the 898th most popular male name.
Its Azeri form of Sübhan is currently the 55th most popular male name in Azerbaijan.
Subhana is used as a female name, though less widely, in many of the same regions.
International Variations
- Sohban (Urdu); Female: Sohbana
- Sübhan (Azeri, Turkish)
Sources