Zaynab
زينب
Say it ZAY-nab
A fair, fragrant tree
At a glance
- Gender
- Girl
- Arabic root
- z-n-b
- Origin
- Arabic
- Found in
- The Companions
- Also spelled
- Zainab, Zaynab, Zeynep, Zeinab
Meaning & source
A tree fair to look at and sweetly scented (Ibn al-Aʿrābī, quoted in Lisān): “the woman was named after it”.
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ابْنُ الأَعرابي: الزَّيْنَبُ شَجَرٌ حَسَنُ المَنْظَر، طَيِّبُ الرَّائِحَةِ، وَبِهِ سُمِّيَتِ المرأَة، وَوَاحِدُ الزَّيْنَبِ لِلشَّجَرِ زَيْنَبة.
Who carried this name
- Zaynab bint Jaḥsh, Mother of the Believers Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah, no. 11227 (vol. 8, p. 153)
- Zaynab bint Abī Salamah, the Prophet’s stepdaughter Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah, no. 11241 (vol. 8, p. 159)
- Zaynab, eldest daughter of the Prophet Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah, no. 11223 (vol. 8, p. 151)
Ruling
What the scholars said about this name
Two women named Barrah (“pious”) were renamed Zaynab by the Prophet ﷺ: Zaynab bint Abī Salamah and Zaynab bint Jaḥsh. It had been said that with the name Barrah she was declaring herself pious. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim places these reports under the chapter on the recommendation of changing an ugly name to a good one, and Barrah to Zaynab and Juwayriyah.
General guidance, not a fatwa. Ask your imam about your own family.