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Is it necessary to change the name of the newborn girl (Elena)—which means beautiful or luminous girl—due to its foreign origin, given that naming her with it was not for the sake of seeking blessings from anyone?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If the meaning of the mentioned name is "beautiful" or "radiant," then there is no objection to naming with it, based on the hadith narrated by Muslim: "He changed the name of 'Asiyah and said, 'You are Jamilah (beautiful).'" A non-Arabic name is permissible as long as it is not repulsive, does not contradict creed and morals, and is not a شعار (symbol or emblem) for non-Muslims. However, it is advisable to change the name to its Arabic equivalent (Jamilah) to avoid imitating people of evil and the potential negative impact of that on the girl.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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