Category Archives: Urdu Names

Lenar, Lenara

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  • Origin: Russian Ленар, Ленара
  • Meaning: “Lenin’s army.”
  • Gender: Lenar (m); Lenara (female)
  • Variants: Linar Линар (m); Lenur Ленур (m); Linara Линара (f); Lenura Ленура (f).
  • Usage: Tatar, Central Asia, Pakistan
  • First Est. 1930s

Lenar and Lenara originated as 20th-century Soviet neologisms, coined from the phrase Ленинская армия (Leninskaya armya), meaning “Lenin’s army.” Such ideological names were created to reflect Soviet ideals and to replace traditional religious names across the USSR.

Unlike many other revolutionary inventions that faded after the fall of the Soviet Union, Lenar, Lenara and its offshoots of Linar/Linara endured among Tatars and other Central Asian peoples. Their survival is often attributed to their smooth, cross-cultural sound and to later folk etymologies that link them with the Arabic root nūr (“light”) or the Persian nār (“fire”). Some modern South Asian baby name sites have also applied the meaning “born of beauty,” from Arabic but this is not accurate.

In recent years, these names have also spread to South Asian Muslim communities, largely due to the mistaken belief that they stem from Arabic or Persian origins rather than from Soviet linguistic invention.

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Noraiz, Noraiza

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  • Origin: Urdu نورایز
  • Gender: Male
  • Pron: (NOH-rayz; noh-RYE-zah)

Noraiz (also spelled Nooraiz, Norayz, or Noraz) is a modern Urdu masculine name used primarily in Pakistan and among the South-Asian Muslim diaspora.

Although often described online as an Arabic or Persian name meaning “sunray,” “rays of light,” or “radiant sunlight,” it does not appear in any classical Arabic or Persian dictionaries such as Lisān al-ʿArab or Tāj al-ʿArūs. Instead, it is a modern Urdu coinage inspired by Arabic elements and folk etymology.

The first part, Noor / Nūr (نور), is authentic Arabic meaning light, radiance, illumination.
The second element, -aiz / -ayz / -eiz (ایز), has no independent meaning in Arabic or Persian, but it resembles Urdu-Persian poetic suffixes (like -āz or -āy) and may have been created for sound and beauty.

Noraiza is its feminine form

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Alishba

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  • Origin: Urdu علیشبہ / علیشبا
  • Meaning: unknown
  • Gender: Female
  • First Est. 1980s

Alishba (علیشبہ / علیشبا) is a modern feminine name popular among South Asian Muslims.

Despite its frequent appearance in baby-name lists and media, Alishba’s etymology is uncertain, and many of the meanings attributed to it online—such as “beautiful,” “sweet,” “innocent,” “sunshine,” or “gift of God”—lack early linguistic documentation.

Some sources claim that Alishba is derived from Arabic, but it does not appear in classical Arabic lexicons such as Lisān al-ʿArab or Tāj al-ʿArūs, nor is it found among traditional Arabic given names.

It is possibly a modern coinage formed within Urdu, possibly inspired by Arabic elements, the prefix “Ali-” (علی), a common honorific meaning “exalted, noble, high”, appears in many Arabic names. The second part “-shba / -shbah” may echo the Arabic word شَبَح (shabaḥ), meaning appearance, likeness, reflection, or the Hebrew/Aramaic Shabbat/Shva sounds familiar in phonetics, though these are speculative parallels.

More than likely, it seems to be a modern spin on the Urdu female names Ilshaba or Ilshabet, Urdu forms of Elizabeth.

Alishba appeared in the U.K. Top 500 between 2003-2016, peaking at #300 in 2005.

South Asian parents especially in English-speaking countries were possibly attracted to this name due to its easy pronunciation and familiar enough sound in the English language.

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Zoraiz

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  • Origin: Urdu ضوريز
  • Gender: Male
  • First Est. 1970s
  • Pron: zo-RAYZ

The name came into use in the South-Asian Muslim community in the 1970s. It is often listed as meaning “spreader of light,” in Arabic. It seems to be a creative, Arabic inspired name but is not used among Arabs. It is possibly a smush between the Arabic word زَرَعَI (zar’), meaning “to sow; to spread; to scatter,” along with the Persian suffix -raiz. Another possible inspiration of the first part of the name is perhaps ضَوْء (ḍau’), meaning, “light.”

Alternate transliterations include: Zorayz, Zorez, Zouraiz, and Zuraiz.

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Samavia

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  • Origin: literary invention
  • Gender: Female
  • First Use: Late 1990s

The best-known appearance of this name is in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1915 novel The Lost Prince, where Samavia is the name of a fictional European kingdom.

Burnett probably coined it for its romantic, vaguely Eastern-European sound, combining familiar Slavic-sounding syllables (Sam-, -avia).

In Pakistan and parts of India you will occasionally see Samavia given to girls as a modern Muslim name, likely inspired by the pleasant sound of Burnett’s word or by similar Arabic-Persian names.

Parents often interpret it as a variant of Arabic names such as Samaviya/Samawiya, which can be linked to samāʾ (سَماء) “sky, heaven.”

Because this is a modern adaptation, meanings offered on baby-name sites—“heavenly,” “from the sky,” “sublime”—are interpretive rather than historically established.

It may also be related to a Prakrit word that means “accomplished, finished.”

It is not a traditional Arabic Muslim name nor is it a traditional name in India, it has only come into use the last 20 years.

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Tasnuva, Taznuva

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  • Origin: Bengali, Urdu
  • Gender: Female
  • Est: 1970s

The name is mostly an Urdu and Bengali coinage, composed of the Arabic word tāj (تاج) “crown” and the Persian word navā (نوا) “sound, tone, voice.”

It’s hard to say when this name first appeared. It has had sporadic use among South-Asian Muslims since the 1970s. Many sites have listed a fabricated origin and meaning.

It is not a classical Arabic name and is not used in Arabic-speaking countries, nor is it used in Iran.

The name is borne by Bengali actress, Tasnuva Tisha.

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