What do you think is the most quintessential Pakistani name?

[Giannis]

Indian Punjabi’s especially Sikhs and Hindus of that area usually have the same name for boys and girls. Not sure if Pak Punjab has same culture. For example Navjot Sidhu’s wife is Navjot Kaur etc.

I can only think of Shaheen and maybe Misbah which I discovered today as a common name among boys and girls. Not sure If this is a Punjab only thing.

Shaheen is a persian name. There are unisex Muslim names however they aren't common at all.

 

[Giannis]

There's also Malala. Can't find it anywhere else in the world.

 

[Rayyman]

There's also Malala. Can't find it anywhere else in the world.

Ok Giannis

 

[Nostalgic]

There's also Malala. Can't find it anywhere else in the world.

It’s a fairly common name among the Pashtuns on either side of the Durand Line. A popular variant is Malalai.

 

[Nostalgic]

We used to hear names such as meraj deen, charag deen and Deen Muhammad of our grandparents but they have gone out of fashion now.Deen Muhammad particularly stands out for me because we, now, always use "Muhammad" as the first part of our names.

My great-great-great-great grandfather and his son (my great-great-great grandfather) were Muhammad Khan and Khan Muhammad, respectively.

They were both great.

 

[JaDed]

Was Zain not one of the protagonists in the Indian serial Beintehaa?

Again had to google and lol you are right, no clue about Indian TV dramas except maybe comedy ones.
But personally never heard of any Indian named Zain.

edit : Googled it apparently and Indian celeb couple named their son Zain.

 

[sshakir411]

like many Muslim desi names this actually came via the Persian pronunciation

It’s not a Persian word so that pronunciation really does not matter. It’s an Arabic word and that’s ultimately what matters.

 

[sshakir411]

What’s more, Rizwan/Radwan is plural. There are other popular plural names such Hasnain, Saqlain etc.

Fun fact: Saqlain is wrong too...Thaqlain is the right way to say in Arabic. Same thing with Saqib...my buddy’s younger brother who speaks fluent Arabic and married a saudi/Syrian ended up changing his name from Saqib to Thaqib.

 

[Nostalgic]

Fun fact: Saqlain is wrong too...Thaqlain is the right way to say in Arabic. Same thing with Saqib...my buddy’s younger brother who speaks fluent Arabic and married a saudi/Syrian ended up changing his name from Saqib to Thaqib.

But is ث really pronounced Th? I would say it’s intermediate between S and Th: you make the S sound, but with the tip of the tongue touching the bottom of the two front incisors. It sounds more like an S than a Th to me.

 

[Giannis]

Fun fact: Saqlain is wrong too...Thaqlain is the right way to say in Arabic. Same thing with Saqib...my buddy’s younger brother who speaks fluent Arabic and married a saudi/Syrian ended up changing his name from Saqib to Thaqib.

It’s not a Persian word so that pronunciation really does not matter. It’s an Arabic word and that’s ultimately what matters.

That's not how languages work, these originally Arabic names got persianized and entered Pakistani/South Asian Muslim vocabulary through the Khorasanis. It doesn't matter what the original derived name was, literally every language has modified names originating from another language, so many French, Greek, English, Spanish names are spelled and pronounced differently even if they're the same name with the same meaning, there are even Arabized Greek, Aramaic and Roman names, there are Arabized desi and east asian names and demonyms. What your brother did was essentially negate hundreds of years tradition just to spell his name in the arabic way.

 

[Bigboii]

That's not how languages work, these originally Arabic names got persianized and entered Pakistani/South Asian Muslim vocabulary through the Khorasanis. It doesn't matter what the original derived name was, literally every language has modified names originating from another language, so many French, Greek, English, Spanish names are spelled and pronounced differently even if they're the same name with the same meaning, there are even Arabized Greek, Aramaic and Roman names, there are Arabized desi and east asian names and demonyms. What your brother did was essentially negate hundreds of years tradition just to spell his name in the arabic way.

Have to agree that's what make languages, culture unique and awesome

English was a Germanic language know it doesn't sound German at all

 

[desirous of desire]

My great-great-great-great grandfather and his son (my great-great-great grandfather) were Muhammad Khan and Khan Muhammad, respectively.

They were both great.

Haha! the number of times you had to put "great" before their names, they had to be great.
Your great great great grandfather must have merged "Muhammad" while writing his father's
name with his.Khan Muhammad - Muhammad Khan, would have become Khan Muhammad Khan.

There were also many Dost Muhammad , Yar Muhammad , Faiz Muhammad etc.
Asad Muhammad- the writer, also comes to mind and his complete name is Asad Muhammad Khan.

 

[Nostalgic]

Haha! the number of times you had to put "great" before their names, they had to be great.
Your great great great grandfather must have merged "Muhammad" while writing his father's
name with his.Khan Muhammad - Muhammad Khan, would have become Khan Muhammad Khan.

There were also many Dost Muhammad , Yar Muhammad , Faiz Muhammad etc.
Asad Muhammad- the writer, also comes to mind and his complete name is Asad Muhammad Khan.

Khan Muhammad Khan is the sort of name that was once dubbed Double-Barelled Khan. There were quite a few politicians with such names in the early years of Pakistan: Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, even the first PM was sometimes called Khan Liaqat Ali Khan.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Again had to google and lol you are right, no clue about Indian TV dramas except maybe comedy ones.
But personally never heard of any Indian named Zain.

edit : Googled it apparently and Indian celeb couple named their son Zain.

Zain is a pretty common name in India. Do a search on Facebook.

 

[CricketCartoons]

Zain is a pretty common name in India. Do a search on Facebook.

True. In india we pronounce it as jain. it is a very common name.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Not quintessential but defn specific to Pak is Zain for guys and Sidra for girls, never heard Muslims from other countries with that name.

There must be thousands if not tens of thousands of Indian Muslims with the names Zain and Sidra.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

That's not how languages work, these originally Arabic names got persianized and entered Pakistani/South Asian Muslim vocabulary through the Khorasanis. It doesn't matter what the original derived name was, literally every language has modified names originating from another language, so many French, Greek, English, Spanish names are spelled and pronounced differently even if they're the same name with the same meaning, there are even Arabized Greek, Aramaic and Roman names, there are Arabized desi and east asian names and demonyms. What your brother did was essentially negate hundreds of years tradition just to spell his name in the arabic way.

Exactly. Unless its a name for a religious figure, most subcontinent Muslim names are either Persian origin, or came from Arabic via Persian. Too many people underestimate the impact of Persian on our culture, and greatly over estimate the Arabic influence.

 

[ManFan]

Junaid Abbas.

Surely it can’t get any more Pakistani than that?

 

[ManFan]

Junaid Abbas.

Surely it can’t get any more Pakistani than that?

Actually it can.

Replace Abbas with Azam and you’re all set.