Boys' Names from the Qur'an and Their Meanings (with Abjad Values)

"We want to give our son a name from the Qur'an" actually hides two different wishes. Some families look for the name of a person mentioned by name in the Qur'an: a prophet, a Companion, a man of wisdom. Others prefer a word that occurs in the Qur'an and carries a beautiful meaning, such as Selim, Emin or Münir. Both are meaningful choices, but they are not the same thing. Below we keep the two apart and present 30 boys' names used in Turkey and across the Muslim world, grouped by theme, with their Arabic/Ottoman spelling and Abjad value.

First, a distinction: what does "a name in the Qur'an" mean?

You can read every name in the lists with one of two labels in mind:

• A person named in the Qur'an: the name appears as someone's proper name. Muhammed, Ahmed, Yûsuf, Zeyd, İmran and Lokman belong here.
• A word found in the Qur'an: the name appears as a concept or an attribute, not as a person's name, and was later adopted as a given name. Selim ("a sound heart"), Münir ("a light-giving lamp") and Nasuh ("sincere repentance") belong here.

In the "Where in the Qur'an" column we give sura:verse numbers; when a name appears in a great many verses we simply say "many verses". For the second type, the form in the verse (singular, plural, adjective) may differ slightly from the name, and we note that where it matters.

How were the Abjad values calculated?

Each value is the sum of the letters in the name's usual Ottoman/Arabic spelling, using the standard Abjad table. The definite article (al-), letters doubled by a shadda and an alif that is pronounced but not written are not counted. A small example: Tâhâ (طه) has two letters, Ṭā (ط) 9 and Hā (ه) 5, for a total of 14. Change the spelling and the value changes too: Yâsîn written يس, as at the head of the sura and as in Ottoman usage, is 70, while the common Arabic spelling ياسين gives 131. That is why every name analysis starts by fixing the correct spelling.

1. Names of prophets

Because prophets' names are covered in a separate article, we only include the most frequently chosen ones here. At the head of the list stand the two names of the Prophet that appear in the Qur'an: Muhammed occurs in four verses, and Ahmed appears in Sura al-Saff, within the glad tidings given by Jesus.

Nûh, İbrahim and Yûsuf also give their names to whole suras. Sura Yûsuf is known for telling a single story from beginning to end within one sura.

2. Other people named in the Qur'an

These names are less familiar, yet each carries its own story. Zeyd is the only Companion of the Prophet named explicitly in the Qur'an (al-Ahzab 33:37). Most scholars hold that Lokman was not a prophet but a righteous man granted wisdom. Whether Üzeyr was a prophet is debated, which is why we did not place him in the prophets' group.

3. Names that are also sura titles

Tâhâ and Yâsîn are among the "disjointed letters" (al-huruf al-muqatta'a) that open certain suras; their true meaning is held to be known to God. Tradition counts both among the names of the Prophet, and both have become common boys' names in Turkey. It is worth noting that some scholars were cautious about using these letters, whose meaning is not known with certainty, as names. Furkan and Tarık, by contrast, are words with a clear meaning.

4. Names that describe character and virtue

The names in this group point not to a person but to a virtue. Parents who choose them often carry a quiet prayer: "may my son be like this". A detail worth noticing: Maryam 19:54, describing the prophet Ismail, calls him "true to his promise" (sadiq al-wa'd), and that is where the name Sadık appears.

5. Names of light, guidance and good news

The last group comes from words the Qur'an itself uses to describe revelation and prophethood: proof, guidance, light, good tidings. Münir and Beşir appear in verses as qualities of the Prophet.

Quick questions and answers

Is a name with a higher Abjad value "better"?

No. Hâdi adds up to 20 and Rıdvan to 1057; that does not make one superior to the other. In the Abjad tradition a number is not a verdict on its own but a starting point. What matters is how that number meets the other names in a family.

Are two names with the same value the same?

Names with equal values are seen in the tradition as "related", but they are not identical. A lovely example: Beşir (بشير) equals 512, and the girls' name Büşra (بشرى), from the same root b-sh-r, is also 512. These two are made of the same letters in a different order. Tarık (طارق) and Ömer (عمر), on the other hand, meet at 310 while sharing almost no letters, so their element profiles look quite different.

What matters more: the name itself or its harmony with the family?

In the Abjad tradition, what really gives a name its weight is its relationship with the family's names. The same name may complete a missing element in one family and further strengthen an already dominant element in another.

The value is a starting point; harmony is the real question

The tables above give you each name's meaning and number, but finding the right name for your son goes one step further. In the Baby Name Finder & Analysis report, the mother's and father's names are first examined letter by letter (hurufat), the family's element map is drawn and the missing element is identified. Then an "ideal name profile" is defined to complete that balance, and five name suggestions ranked by family compatibility are presented; the top three are explained in detail, including why they were chosen.

If you already have a name in mind, say you are torn between Selim and Münir, the Baby Name Family Compatibility analysis measures that name's harmony with the mother and with the father separately: compatibility scores for mother-baby, father-baby and the family as a whole, each person's Abjad value, element and star, and the family's energy map, all in a single report.

Note: This article is for information only. Meanings are based on common explanations in dictionaries and the exegetical tradition; Abjad interpretations reflect a traditional perspective and contain no definitive judgement or guarantee. The best choice is always a name with a beautiful meaning that sits well with your family.