180+ Arabic Girl Names
Updated Thu Sep 14 2023
Arabic girl names are used widely around the world, both by parents with Arabic roots and by non-Arabs. Names such as Aaliyah and Layla have become popular in many Western countries.
Layla is the top Arabic name for girls in the US. Along with Layla, Arabic girl names in the US Top 1000 include Aaliyah, Kayla, Lila, Lyla, and Leila, Aisha, Imani, Mariam, and Zara.
Arabic names that are popular in the UK for baby girls include Layla, Zara, Maryam, Lyla, and Aisha, all now in the Top 100 in England and Wales. Unique Arabic names for girls we see on the horizon include Aziza, Inaya, and Kalila, among many others.
One of the top girl names in Arabic-speaking countries is Zainab or Zeynep, which has many spelling variations and is a tree name, meaning beauty or grace. Other popular Arabic girl names in the Arabic world include Elif, Azra, and Abrar.
Whether you're interested in Arabic names because of your family origins or an interest in this rich and historic culture, this is our complete complement of Arabic names for baby girls, organized by their current popularity on Nameberry.
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- Lila
Origin:
Arabic, SanskritMeaning:
"night; play"Description:
Lila is one of the girl names with a double l sound — Lila, Lola, Layla, Leila, Lily et al — that have caught on in a major way., Delicate yet dynamic, Lila has a slightly international flair.
- Zara
Origin:
Hebrew and ArabicMeaning:
"blooming flower; God remembers"Description:
Zara has multiple origins, but most notably is a variation of Zahrah, a name derived from the Arabic zahrah, meaning “blooming flower.” Zara can also be a diminutive of the Bulgarian name Zaharina, a feminine form of the Hebrew Zechariah. Today, Zara is heavily associated with the Spanish fast-fashion empire of the same name.
- Layla
Origin:
Variation of Leila, ArabicMeaning:
"night"Description:
Layla is derived from the Semitic element layl, meaning "night." It has roots in the Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian languages. In the Arabic story Qays and Layla, Layla is the subject of the poet’s unrequited love. Among the many alternate spellings are Leila, Laila, Laela, Laelah, Laylah, Leyla, Lejla, and Leighla.
- Inaya
Origin:
ArabicMeaning:
"care, concern"Description:
Inaya is a soft and expressive Arabic name, also spelled Anaya. Inaya is a Top 100 girls' name in several European countries, including France, Netherlands, and Belgium. Inaya entered the Top 1000 for the first time in 2022, joining sister name Anaya on her upwards climb.
- Aaliyah
Origin:
Variation of Aliya, ArabicMeaning:
"heavens, highborn, exalted"Description:
Aaliyah is the feminine variation of Aali, a masculine Arabic name meaning "high" or "exalted." There are many additional spellings of the name, including Alia, Aliyah, Aleah, and Aleia. In Hebrew, aliyah (pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable) means "rising," and refers to Jewish immigration to Israel.
- Lyla
Origin:
Spelling variation of Lila, ArabicMeaning:
"night"Description:
The Lyla spelling variation has now superseded the original Lila — the former remains on the rise while the latter is consistently falling in popularity.
- Kayla
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"laurel, crown"Description:
Kayla is a modern invented name that emerged in the late 1950s. Despite its similarity to the name Michaela, Kayla most likely began as a combination of the then-popular name Kay and -la suffix. Alternatively, it may be a variation of the Yiddish name Kaila, which derived from the Hebrew name Kelila. Kayla can also be considered an Anglicization of the Gaelic surname MacCaollaidhe or MacCathail.
- Yara
Origin:
ArabicMeaning:
"friend, helper"Description:
The multicultural Yara is also the name of a beautiful green-skinned Brazilian goddess and might make a more unusual spin on Mara or Sara.
- Zora
Origin:
Serbo-CroatianMeaning:
"dawn"Description:
Zora is a meaningful literary heroine name honoring Zora Neale Hurston, an important black writer and leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
- Maryam
Origin:
Hebrew, Arabic, IranianMeaning:
"drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved"Description:
As Mary falls further out of favor, her variations become more appealing, whether you're honoring an ancestral Mary or Marie or Miriam or simply love the tradition of the name.
- Alia
Origin:
Arabic feminine form of AliMeaning:
"supreme, exalted"Description:
Alia is most classic and feminine form of Ali, one of the 99 attributes of Allah. The name is used by Christians, Muslims and Jews; the word Aliyah means to make a pilgrimage to Israel and the words in both languages mean sublime, lofty, or exalted. Alia is also the name of the heroine of Frank Herbert's science fiction classic Children of Dune
- Lulu
Origin:
Diminutive of Louise or Lucy, or ArabicMeaning:
"pearl"Description:
Lula has a firecracker personality, a singing and dancing extrovert. Interesting that Lulu was a Top 100 name when the Social Security list was born in 1880, but it's been sliding ever since and has not been in the Top 1000 for decades. Modern parents in love with Lulu might well reverse that trend.
- Mariam
Origin:
Arabic variation of MaryMeaning:
"drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved"Description:
Popular among parents with Arab roots. Also found as Maryam.
- Lilah
Origin:
Variation of LilaMeaning:
"night"Description:
Lilah may be a simple spelling variation of Lila—or you might think of it as a shortening of Delilah or an Anglicization of the Hebrew Lilach, which means lilac. Whatever the root, it's a beautiful and stylish name. The final h adds balance or creates needless complications, depending on your viewpoint.
- Leila
Origin:
ArabicMeaning:
"night"Description:
Leila was popularized in the West by the poet Byron, who used it in his poem Don Juan for a ten-year-old Turkish girl. Leila also appears as a fairy in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera Iolanthe.
- Sena
Origin:
Korean; Hindi; Arabic; EweMeaning:
"this world's beauty or grace; army; to praise; bringing heaven to earth"Description:
Sena is one of those names that is as obscure in the Western World as it is simple and straightforward. Sena exists as a name in a range of languages and cultures and may be pronounced like Senna (with a soft e) or Sienna. Sena is also a place name, a surname, the name of several groups of people, and the name of a genus of moth as well as a kind of wine, among other things. The similar Cinna from The Hunger Games may make Sena more plausible as a first name.
- Alya
Origin:
ArabicMeaning:
"heavens, highborn, exalted"Description:
Alya is most familiar in the US in its much-more-complicated form Aaliyah, the spelling used by the later singer. The traditional name of the star system Theta Serpentis, Alya is also an established Muslim first name and a Turkish place-name. It may also be a Russian short form for Alexandra or any other Al- name.
- Nyla
Origin:
ArabicMeaning:
"winner, one who achieves"Description:
This name of an ancient Egyptian princess could make a fitting choice for a bicoastal child.
- Aida
Origin:
ArabicMeaning:
"happy"Description:
Aida is a melodic name largely associated with the title character of the 1871 Verdi opera, an enslaved Ethiopian princess who dies to save her people. In the past, her name was rarely heard outside the Latino community, but in the current time of love for all A-starting girls' names, this could very well change.
- Maja
Origin:
German, Slovene, and Scandinavian form of Maya; also, ArabicMeaning:
"splendid"Description:
Whether you pronounce it my-a, ma-zha or ma-ha, Maja is an intriguing choice. Sometimes associated with Goya's famous painting "The Naked Maja." As a cognate of Maya, it's a Top 10 name in Slovenia and Sweden and is also popular in Germany and Norway.