Muslim Boy Names with Meanings

Muhammad is, by a wide margin, the most-given boy's name on Earth, because tradition encourages naming a son after the Prophet — often as a first name paired with a second "calling" name the child actually goes by day to day (Muhammad Ayaan, Muhammad Hamza) rather than being used alone. Around it sit the names of other prophets recognised in Islam — Ibrahim, Yusuf, Musa, Isa, Dawud, Sulaiman, Yunus — and the Prophet's closest companions: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali.

A second, larger group comes from the ninety-nine names of Allah, used with the prefix Abd ("servant of") — Abdullah, Abdul Rahman, Abdul Aziz — and from Arabic words for virtues and blessings: Karim (generous), Rashid (rightly guided), Farhan (joyful), Zayd (abundance). Persian and Turkish add a softer layer — Arman, Kian, Emir, Yasin — a reminder of how far the tradition has travelled, from Lahore to Istanbul to Jakarta.

The names below are the boy names across our Muslim-tradition catalogue, most common first, then modern and classic picks. Spellings vary by country — Yusuf, Youssef and Yousuf are the same name — so try the letter pages if your preferred spelling isn't showing.