Can I Change My Baby’s Name After One Year?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question

I named my son Ahadd. Now he is 1 year old and I am hearing from people that it is not permissible to name Ahadd as this name belongs to Allah meaning one. I gave the name to him by looking at the meaning ‘unique’. Please give me guidance.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate

I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah. You’re not required to change your child’s name; though there is nothing wrong with choosing to change it.

Names can have absolute and relative meanings. The absolute meaning applies to Allah in an absolute sense. But the relative meanings can normally apply to creation, in a limited, relative sense.

This would apply to the name “Ahad.” Allah Most High is al-Ahad—the Absolutely Singular and Unique One. [Ghazali, al-Maqsid al-Asna]

This name can be used in a relative sense for people—just as we can refer to someone as having a singular or unique personality, for example.

And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.

[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.