Zouhair = little Zahr. "little" is for affection and love. Zhar or Zaher means means pure shining beautiful being, something about color like the beauty of the full pure white moon, or some kind of beautiful pure bright red of fire (Annar Zahra, lmajmar zher), the brightest and purest of colors. In the arab world, and as far as persons are concerned, I think it is about the beauty of a the white skin of a person (Eddenia Zahra ya weddy a khay!!!), taking in consideration that not every white person is beautiful :-).

I believe it means lucky! :) ouahed 3ndou ezhar =D

Couldyou please give me the exact meaning of zouhair if you know. Thanks

you can name it yahya or youssef or abd al mohaymine

dammm i love that litte baby when he was hhhhhhhh here is my msn im a girl live in u.s.a meryusa@hotmail.fr

The chronological order is Da7ook, Maher and N.A. Enjoy.

...When they start to talk, it's too late!

... and what about Maher?

Anyone mentionned Da7ook? although the phonetics might tough...

hey - has anyone suggested Sherif yet? it's a nice name, comes from sharaf - honor.

btw - I think "ttaa" and "ddaad" and "ssaad" are all pretty hard too. "ghayn" isn't any easier. :o)

you'd be a true hippie in north africa if you named your daughter "tree" :) but you're right it's a nice word.

have you heard the name "jumana" ? it means a small pearl. or "lujayn" which means the purest silver. both girls' names though, I guess you already have an abundance of those :)

Ok, I definitely will debate that Qaf is the hardest to say 3yn is the one that puts my mouth and throat into overdrive. I am sure I can learn to say all of the names beautifully (with some practice and avoidance of 3yn), it's really more for my family and friends. Everyone screws up my and my brothers names when they read them, so Americans basically don't do too well with names they aren't familiar with. I just want something that reads as it is written without possibility of being too wrong. I can't have my mom mispronounce my kids names. Now Shajarah, that's beautiful, that should be a girl's name. I also think there are Arabic letters that don't sound pretty, to my ears atleast (3yn and kha for example). I am pretty sure I will learn Arabic with my kids from their daddy or when we move across the pond.

Rowan - I actually like that name Zouhair. again, a very beautiful name with beautiful meaning. and it sounds nice too. Zouhair. Say it and watch how your lips move. It's majestic, it demands attention.

Joc - I think the more you learn Arabic the more familiar you'll get with some of these names and how to pronounce them. I don't have a problem admitting that Arabic is a tough language to learn, even for a native-born like me. But the beauty of the words and depth of meaning that each conveys truly is incomparable to any other language (let the debate begin - I will stand by my word.. :o)) Each letter itself conveys meaning, did you guys know that? For example the letter "sheen" connotes the spreading of something, so "shams" (sun) spreads light, while "shajarah" (tree) spreads shade. Letter "Qaf" is the most powerful letter and the hardest to pronounce. It connotes strength and forcefulness (just watch how your jaw moves as you say "qaaf"). Letter "haa" (soft 'h') is the most intimate letter, coming from the deepest part of the throat, so it connotes something deeply close to you and intimate. Letter "baa" forces your lips to make an outward shape, and connotes something come out into the world, showing itself. So the word "Houb" (love) is something deeply intimate, soft and close to your heart, and yet it has an outward expression and shows itself. Hence the meaning of love: an inward deep feeling that is expressed outwardly :)

(ok I just remembered that whole thing from a lecture that I'll probably never forget :o))

If you pick up a copy of the translation of the meanings of the Quran, you'll immediately notice how much text is needed to explain just one word or one verse, attempting to carry a concept over from Arabic into another language. It's probably one of the hardest languages to translate (perhaps Chinese competes here), simply because of the richness of each word. The very letters and sounds carry certain connotations.

I should email you those notes - I didn't forget, it's just been kindev crazy over here :) it's a real shame you're not in cali, mum could give you amazing lessons. she's a wonderful teacher. if you come visit we'll sign you up for a session or two :)

Jocelyn - yes I know how Amine feels, and I feel the same.. about the old traditional names. See the thing, is those are pretty good names that have deep beautiful meanings, yet unfortunately these days are considered somehow low-class.. or people get the impression that their kids if named something like L'Bashir, or Abdellah, or Mostafa, Abdelkader, Mohammed, Moussa, Brahim, etc. will be marginalized by society or something stupid and ignorant like that. I'm speculating how Moroccans view this, not you. Your reasons are mainly phonetics. It is really unfortunate that people are not ready to go back to old traditional names. These days people in Morocco seem to search for the most exotic name out there, the softest or cutests sounding name there is as if they are about to name a celebrity star who needs a second name of fame. I find that ridiculous sometimes. It is actually not good for the Moroccan society since one cannot immediately tell anymore whether the person is Moroccan or not just by looking at the name. I will have no problem whatsoever naming my kid a traditional name. I believe that eventually the kid will have his/her own personality that will redefine his/her name. If a name is not very popular today or hard to pronounce, a person can eventually turn that name into an icon! But don't listen to me :) listen to your heart and husband.

Amine needs to come around to Zinedine as I am sure my parents will too. I like all the four letter boys names like Sami, but Amine didn't go for any of them. I think he wants an old school traditional name that my tongue trips over. Maybe we will only need girls names, atleast they aren't so tough.

Salem - yes I bet it will be Zinedin (Zizou) :)

I'm looking for same thing!! Our first boy is Sami Joseph or Sami Josef depending on whose family is saying it, my husband is moroccan, Zouheir, and everyone here calls him Zou. But can't find any good names for baby number two in case its a boy too!!

Whatever you say, all you can do is enriching the list, good to know anyway, but Jocelyn is going to name her kid: Zinedin (Zizou). Why not ?

how about Malik, that s my nephew's name i love it :)

naoufal (nawfal) and nadir are nice too.

btw, hothaifa is a boy's name only and it ends in -a. like the sahabi's name hothaifa ibnul yaman (actually these names end in taa marbouttaa but b/c in arabic you don't have to pronounce the "t" it can be shortened to -a.)
(btw - yaman is a common girl's name in the middle east - and it's one of those unisex names also. just like "claude" in french - you find both boys and girls can have the name. meaning is not gender-based)

has anyone suggested Yasser? from "yousr" ease.

Zuhair / Zubair are nice too. zuhair i think means someone very lucky/fortunate. like zhar (3ndou zhar :) but zubair i can't remember the meaning. anyone know?

malik is nice too, doesn't it mean king?

for some reason "anas" strikes me as simplest. and they have it in english too, like bill cosby's son "enis" (just a different spelling, same name.)

bla ma tez3af, that was just an example ;o)) i'll find the name of the poet i had in mind.

maybe rab3ah, but rabi3ah? the kid is gonna have a complex!

it's true, check your classical arabic literature and the names of the companions of the prophet, you'll find rabee3ah and wafa. the thing is this - nowadays we tend to associate most names ending in -a with female names, but that's not quite the way classical arabic grammar always works.
anyways - jood. think about it ;)

Emilchil:it's a pure moroccan name.Emilchil is the gay who lost his love.He was so sad that a big lake was filled by his tears.In the moroccan mythologie,Emilchil refers to love and fidelity.Listen Jocelyn,if you don't choose this name,I'll flod my keyboard with hot tears.Snif..snif.. lol

rabee3ah for a boy!? that's tough! it's a girl's name just like wafaa. Never seen a boy with either name.

Jood is a really nice name too. It's synonymous of "karam" - generosity but in a stronger sense, as in deep/vast generosity. it's pronounced the same as the english name Jude. and the coolest thing about it is that it's unisex - you can name either a boy or a girl Jood, just like wafaa and rabee3ah - classical arabic names that were given to both boys and girls.