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Persian names carry a particular kind of weight. They were polished by a thousand years of poetry — Rumi, Hafez, Ferdowsi — and they tend to sound like the things they mean. A name like Soraya doesn’t just translate to “the Pleiades”; it actually moves like a cluster of small stars when you say it. That’s the magic working.
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When referencing popularity, I am referring to baby name data from Social Security Administration database in the United States for 2025, which is the most current year of data available.
Here’s what’s in store –
Names From the Shahnameh and Classical Persian Epics
Names From Persian Poetry — Hafez, Rumi, Saadi, Khayyam
Zoroastrian and Ancient Iranian Names
Nature-Inspired Persian Names — Light, Earth, Water
Modern Iranian Names — Tehran in the 2000s
Royal and Aristocratic Names — Queens, Princesses, Pahlavi Era
Sufi and Spiritually-Inflected Names
Sound-Forward Persian Names — Short, Punchy, Travel-Friendly
Most of these names are still rare in English-speaking countries, which is part of the appeal. Your daughter won’t share hers with three other girls in her kindergarten class. But because Persian phonetics map cleanly onto English mouths (no tricky consonant clusters, no tonal pitfalls), people will say it correctly the first time. That’s an unusual combination — distinctive and easy.
I’ve organized this list by where the names come from rather than alphabetically, because the source matters. A name pulled from the Shahnameh has a different texture than one rooted in Zoroastrian fire-worship, which has a different texture than a modern Tehran nickname. You’ll feel the difference as you read.
A note on spelling: Persian is written in a modified Arabic script, so Romanizations vary. Sahar and Sehar, Yasamin and Yasmin — these are the same name, just transliterated differently. I’ve used the most common English spellings throughout.
Names From the Shahnameh and Classical Persian Epics
Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh (Book of Kings) was completed around 1010 CE and is the longest epic poem ever written by a single author. The women in it — queens, warriors, sorceresses, devoted daughters — gave Iran some of its most enduring names.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Dawn, bright
- Popularity: #2091
The name of Alexander the Great’s Bactrian wife, *Roshanak* in the original; sun-kissed and storied.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: The Pleiades, the seven stars
- Popularity: #913
Wife of the last Shah of Iran; soft and celestial.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Brave, valorous
- Popularity: Rare
The princess who fell in love with the hero Rostam in a single night; carries quiet strength.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Daughter of the moon
- Popularity: Rare
A Turanian princess who defied her father for love; romantic and a little defiant.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: River-blossom, child of the river
- Popularity: Rare
Rostam’s mother; let her hair down a tower like a Persian Rapunzel.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Created heroically
- Popularity: Rare
The Shahnameh’s great female warrior who duelled the prince of Turan; fierce, underused.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Of glorious presence
- Popularity: Rare
Daughter of the Turanian king Afrasiab; lyrical and grand.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Lucky, fortunate
- Popularity: Rare
The complicated queen of the Kayanian dynasty; vintage and dramatic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Royal, queenly
- Popularity: Rare
Mother of the hero Esfandiar; regal without being ornate.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: A mythical phoenix-like bird
- Popularity: Rare
The Huma bird grants kingship to whoever its shadow touches; auspicious.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Lady, noble woman
- Popularity: Rare
A title and a name; warm and slightly formal.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sweet
- Popularity: #8854
The Armenian princess in Nezami’s epic *Khosrow and Shirin*; one of the great love stories of the East.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Beautiful
- Popularity: Rare
Heroine of the 11th-century romance *Vis and Ramin*; rare even in Iran.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Free, noble
- Popularity: #15520
The harpist in the legend of Bahram Gur; melodic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Fairy, angel
- Popularity: #6835
The original word behind English “peri”; tiny and luminous.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Greatest, supreme; or moon-like
- Popularity: #13432
A 20th-century literary favorite.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Like a fairy
- Popularity: #5096
A diminutive of Pari that feels playful and modern.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Immaculate, pure
- Popularity: #7973
The ancient water goddess; predates Islam by centuries.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Well-formed
- Popularity: Rare
Daughter of Cyrus the Great, wife of Darius; the queen behind the Persian empire.
- Origin: Greek-Persian
- Meaning: Gift of Artemis
- Popularity: #11179
The naval commander who fought for Xerxes at Salamis; ancient and ferocious.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Mother of Fereydun in the Shahnameh
- Popularity: Rare
Hid her son to save him from the tyrant Zahhak; protective and brave.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Daughter of India
- Popularity: Rare
Rudabeh’s mother; diplomatic and shrewd in the epic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: City-born, of noble lineage
- Popularity: #17487
The storyteller of *One Thousand and One Nights*; the original woman who saved her life with words.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: A noble Pahlavan family name
- Popularity: Rare
Uncommon as a girl’s name but used; feels heroic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Daughter of the sun, daughter of kindness
- Popularity: Rare
Old-fashioned in the best way.
Names From Persian Poetry — Hafez, Rumi, Saadi, Khayyam
The classical poets reached for natural imagery constantly — gardens, wine, nightingales, moonlight — and many of those images became names. These tend to feel especially lyrical when said aloud.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Violet, the flower
- Popularity: Rare
A staple in Hafez’s verses; humble and sweet.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Lily
- Popularity: #1136
The original Susan is Persian, not biblical; predates the English version by millennia.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Jasmine
- Popularity: #15007
Beloved in Persian gardens and ghazals; soft and recognizable.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Wild rose, dog-rose
- Popularity: #13056
The flower that climbs old Tehran walls; gentle.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Narcissus, daffodil
- Popularity: Rare
A classical symbol for the beloved’s eyes in Sufi poetry.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Tulip
- Popularity: Rare
The Iranian national flower; bright and short.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Tender flower, delicate as a blossom
- Popularity: Rare
Slightly old-fashioned, very feminine.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Pomegranate flower
- Popularity: Rare
Carries the red-orange color of pomegranate blooms; vivid.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Little flower
- Popularity: Rare
A diminutive that works as a full name.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Rose-cheeked
- Popularity: Rare
A poetic compliment turned into a name.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Like the moon
- Popularity: #3466
One of the most popular contemporary names in Iran.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Moonlight
- Popularity: Rare
Pure visual poetry; works in any culture.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Dew of the night
- Popularity: #13250
The little drops on morning grass; delicate.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Star
- Popularity: #13204
Beloved across the Iranian diaspora; warm and direct.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Dawn
- Popularity: #3363
The hour just before sunrise when Sufis pray.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Whiteness, the first light
- Popularity: Rare
The moment dawn becomes visible; pure.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sky, heavens
- Popularity: Rare
Used for both genders; vast.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Beloved, sweetheart
- Popularity: Rare
The painted image of the beloved in poetry; intimate.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Water lily, lotus
- Popularity: Rare
Floats above the murky pond; symbolic.
- Origin: Persian/Hebrew
- Meaning: Tuberose; also Mary
- Popularity: #390
The Persian flower meaning gives it new life.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Strength; beloved
- Popularity: #578
Short and tough.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Gemstone, jewel
- Popularity: Rare
The centerpiece of a ring; precious.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Coral
- Popularity: #10754
The red coral of the Persian Gulf; rare in English.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Enamel, glaze; also a small azure flower
- Popularity: #608
Compact and pretty.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Venus, the planet
- Popularity: Rare
The morning star; also the Persian name for Anahita.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Butterfly
- Popularity: Rare
In Sufi poetry, the moth that flies into the flame of the beloved.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Earring, pendant
- Popularity: Rare
Decorative and uncommon.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Dream, vision
- Popularity: #2808
The kind of dream you remember; quietly aspirational.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Wish, longing
- Popularity: Rare
Means the wish itself, not the fulfillment.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Pride of the moon, beloved as the moon
- Popularity: Rare
Has a swing to it.
Zoroastrian and Ancient Iranian Names
Before Islam reached Iran in the 7th century, Zoroastrianism was the state religion for over a thousand years. These names — many drawn from the Avesta — carry the oldest layer of Persian identity.
- Origin: Old Persian, Avestan
- Meaning: Pure, immaculate, undefiled
- Popularity: #7973
The goddess of water, fertility, and wisdom; her name appears in inscriptions from 400 BCE.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Friend, covenant, light
- Popularity: #8246
Used for girls in modern Iran; ancient and luminous.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Truth, cosmic order
- Popularity: #1196
The central Zoroastrian virtue; one syllable, huge weight.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Religion, inner self, the soul that meets you after death
- Popularity: #13818
Philosophical and rare.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Holy, beneficent
- Popularity: Rare
The “good spirit” of Zoroastrian theology.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Devotion, holy thought
- Popularity: Rare
One of the Amesha Spenta divine beings; serene.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Wife of Zoroaster
- Popularity: Rare
A founding figure; tiny syllabic shape.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Most wise, most thoughtful
- Popularity: Rare
Zoroaster’s youngest daughter; a mouthful but stunning.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Well-grown, well-built
- Popularity: Rare
Queen of Persia in the 6th century BCE.
- Origin: Persian, from Avestan *khvarenah*
- Meaning: Glory, splendor
- Popularity: #1363
Empress Farah Pahlavi made it iconic.
- Origin: Persian, from Mithra
- Meaning: Sun, love, kindness
- Popularity: #6818
One of the most beloved root-words in Iranian naming.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sweet sun, melody of love
- Popularity: Rare
The kind of name people remember.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Inspiring love, sun-stirring
- Popularity: Rare
Vintage Tehran of the 1940s.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sun
- Popularity: Rare
Direct and warm.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Venus, the goddess Anahita
- Popularity: Rare
Modern usage of an ancient name.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Of the festival of Tir, water-celebration
- Popularity: Rare
The midsummer Zoroastrian festival.
- Origin: Persian, from Syriac
- Meaning: The longest night of the year, winter solstice
- Popularity: #10204
Celebrated with pomegranates and poetry; a beautiful birthday-name for December babies.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Holy devotion, Earth
- Popularity: Rare
The fifth month in the Zoroastrian calendar.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Good, holy
- Popularity: Rare
A name and a prefix; short and pure.
- Origin: Avestan-Sanskrit
- Meaning: Lord of light
- Popularity: Rare
Reaches into the Indo-Iranian past.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Well-formed
- Popularity: Rare
Variant of Atusa.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Of right thinking
- Popularity: Rare
Variant of Armaiti; philosophical.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: The mighty river
- Popularity: Rare
The Avestan name of Anahita.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: The moist, the strong
- Popularity: Rare
Variant spelling, older.
- Origin: Avestan
- Meaning: Question, inquiry
- Popularity: Rare
Rare and intellectual.
- Origin: Persian, from Avestan *vahishta*
- Meaning: Heaven, paradise
- Popularity: Rare
The good place.
Nature-Inspired Persian Names — Light, Earth, Water
Iranians have always loved the natural world precisely — they have separate words for morning twilight, dew at dawn, moonlight on water. These names carry that precision.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Water; the eighth month of the Iranian calendar
- Popularity: Rare
Autumnal and elemental.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Fire
- Popularity: Rare
Bold and elemental; less common for girls but used.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Rain
- Popularity: #7284
Climbed Iran’s name charts in the 2000s; soft and modern.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Storm, rainfall
- Popularity: Rare
Heavier sister to Baran.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Spring, the season
- Popularity: #4118
One of the most popular names in modern Iran.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Shining, radiant
- Popularity: Rare
Has movement in it.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Glowing, luminous
- Popularity: Rare
Same root as Tabaan, simpler spelling.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Light, luminous
- Popularity: #12852
The classical form of Roxana.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Beautiful, elegant; also gazing
- Popularity: #3729
Crossover with Arabic but distinctly Persian.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic *dunya*
- Meaning: World
- Popularity: #11328
Vast in meaning, gentle in sound.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sea, ocean
- Popularity: #3280
The same word as the river Daryā in Iranian geography.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sea-like, of the sea
- Popularity: #4723
Coastal and rare.
- Origin: Persian, from Avestan Sraosha
- Meaning: Angel of inspiration, the messenger
- Popularity: Rare
Unisex; spiritual.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Silvery, of silver
- Popularity: Rare
The poet Simin Behbahani gave it gravitas.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Golden
- Popularity: Rare
Sister to Simin; warmer.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Golden, gilded
- Popularity: Rare
Soft variant.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Turquoise
- Popularity: Rare
The blue-green stone mined in Neyshabur for 2,000 years.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Victorious
- Popularity: Rare
Compact masculine-feeling name used for girls too.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Silvery moon
- Popularity: Rare
Combines *Mah* and *sim*; recent invention but lovely.
- Origin: Persian/Arabic
- Meaning: Moonlight, light of the moon
- Popularity: #3540
Crosses cultures easily.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Modern light
- Popularity: Rare
Newer compound; gentle.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Pennyroyal mint
- Popularity: Rare
The herb that grows wild near streams.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Idol, sweetheart
- Popularity: #17181
The beloved in classical poetry; warm.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Wine, the morning drink
- Popularity: Rare
Poetic in a Hafezian way.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Bright, shining
- Popularity: Rare
Modern revival of a Parthian-era name.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Face, countenance
- Popularity: #2452
Used for both name and word.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Joyful, happy
- Popularity: Rare
Optimistic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Blossom, bud
- Popularity: Rare
The flower before it opens; tender.
- Origin: Turkic-Persian
- Meaning: Falcon, hawk
- Popularity: Rare
A favorite in northern Iran.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Clay, earth
- Popularity: #2683
Coincides with the English Tina but means something specific.
Modern Iranian Names — Tehran in the 2000s
These are the names you’d find on a Tehran kindergarten roster today. Many were popularized after the 1979 revolution as parents reached for Persian (rather than Arabic) roots.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Of the water
- Popularity: #4191
Modern revival, climbing in popularity.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sun in a particular angle of light
- Popularity: #4191
The same Romanization, different etymology depending on family tradition.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Reward, gift; visitor
- Popularity: #1242
Modern Tehran favorite.
- Origin: Persian-Turkish
- Meaning: Like the moon
- Popularity: Rare
Used widely in northwest Iran.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Future, the gift of what’s to come
- Popularity: Rare
Confident and forward-looking.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Honey
- Popularity: #5157
Sweet without being saccharine.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Voice, melody
- Popularity: #9
Distinct from the Latin Ava; means the sound itself.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Thyme, the wild herb
- Popularity: Rare
Smells like a Persian hillside.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Ornament, adornment
- Popularity: Rare
Short and crisp.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Unique, incomparable
- Popularity: #16138
Modern, two syllables, easy.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Wisdom
- Popularity: #1941
Coincides with the Italian, distinct etymology.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Goddess
- Popularity: Rare
Romantic and a little grand.
- Origin: Persian-Turkish
- Meaning: Tenderness of the people
- Popularity: Rare
Common in Azerbaijani Iran.
- Origin: Persian, from Greek Helios
- Meaning: Sun
- Popularity: #6461
Modern coinage but feels ancient.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Existence, being
- Popularity: Rare
Philosophical and short.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Alchemy, rare and precious
- Popularity: #6504
The word for chemistry; transformative.
- Origin: Persian/Arabic *layla*
- Meaning: Night
- Popularity: #207
Variant of Leila.
- Origin: Persian/Arabic
- Meaning: Night, dark beauty
- Popularity: #268
The most universal Persian name in the West.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Like a beautiful young woman
- Popularity: Rare
Modern and lyrical.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: A Persian musical scale
- Popularity: Rare
For music-loving parents.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Queen
- Popularity: #12970
Common in Tehran since the 90s.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Wish, desire
- Popularity: #2224
Short and contemporary.
- Origin: Avestan-Persian
- Meaning: Good
- Popularity: #3149
Coincides with Greek Nike; means something else entirely.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Goodness, virtue
- Popularity: #10024
Diminutive form.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Hope, called
- Popularity: #513
International with Persian roots.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Diminutive of Niloufar
- Popularity: Rare
Casual and sweet.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Daughter of Cyrus the Great; modern usage
- Popularity: Rare
Historic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: A poet’s pen name
- Popularity: Rare
After Rira Abbasi; literary.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Seashell, mother-of-pearl
- Popularity: #4987
The shell, not the pearl.
- Origin: Persian/Hebrew
- Meaning: Pure, of the desert
- Popularity: #188
The Persian usage emphasizes purity.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Shore, coast
- Popularity: Rare
For a beach-loving family.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Cupbearer, the one who pours wine
- Popularity: Rare
A central figure in Hafez.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Wild red poppy
- Popularity: Rare
Difficult for English speakers to pronounce but worth it.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sweet, dear
- Popularity: #13867
Used for both genders.
- Origin: Persian, distinct from Sanskrit Tara
- Meaning: Star
- Popularity: #1021
Same meaning, different origin.
Royal and Aristocratic Names — Queens, Princesses, Pahlavi Era
Iran’s last royal dynasty (1925–1979) revived many ancient Persian names. These carry a faint air of palaces and old photographs.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Joy, splendor
- Popularity: #1363
Empress Farah Pahlavi, Iran’s last queen; serene and dignified.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: The Pleiades
- Popularity: #913
The Shah’s second wife, whose tragic love story made world headlines.
- Origin: Arabic-Persian
- Meaning: Successful, victorious
- Popularity: Rare
The Shah’s first wife, an Egyptian princess.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Pride of the king
- Popularity: Rare
The Shah’s eldest daughter.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Night
- Popularity: #268
The Shah’s youngest daughter.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Of noble birth
- Popularity: #17487
Princess of stories.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Joyful pride
- Popularity: Rare
The Shah’s second daughter.
- Origin: Arabic-Persian
- Meaning: Most noble
- Popularity: #4428
The Shah’s twin sister.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Crown of the kingdom
- Popularity: Rare
A Qajar princess turned feminist memoirist.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Light, brilliance
- Popularity: Rare
After the poet Forough Farrokhzad; modernist and brilliant.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Successor, daughter
- Popularity: Rare
After Pouran Dokht, the Sassanian queen who ruled in her own name.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Daughter of the elder, immortal lady
- Popularity: Rare
A 7th-century Sassanian queen.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sassanian queen of the 7th century
- Popularity: Rare
One of only two women to rule pre-Islamic Iran.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Well-grown
- Popularity: Rare
Daughter of Cyrus, wife of Darius, mother of Xerxes.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Daughter of the Median king Astyages, mother of Cyrus the Great
- Popularity: Rare
Foundational.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Wife of Cyrus the Great
- Popularity: Rare
Mentioned in Herodotus.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Wife of Artaxerxes II
- Popularity: Rare
Court intrigue in the original.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Wife of Darius II
- Popularity: Rare
Powerful and feared.
- Origin: Old Persian *Roshanak*
- Meaning: Wife of Alexander the Great
- Popularity: #2091
Bactrian princess.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sun-portrait, image of love
- Popularity: Rare
Pahlavi-era favorite.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Daughter of the heir, queenly
- Popularity: Rare
A Sassanian queen regnant.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: From Turan, the land beyond the Oxus
- Popularity: Rare
Vintage and a little exotic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Brave
- Popularity: Rare
Mostly masculine but used for girls in some families.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Meaning: Beautiful
- Popularity: #11006
The queen who refused to dance for Xerxes in the Book of Esther; defiant.
- Origin: Persian *Setareh*
- Meaning: Star
- Popularity: #131
The Jewish queen of Persia; biblical and Persian both.
Sufi and Spiritually-Inflected Names
Sufism, the mystical tradition within Islam, flourished in Persian-speaking lands. Many of its central concepts — devotion, longing, divine love — became names.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Love, divine love
- Popularity: Rare
The word Rumi used most often.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Kind, loving
- Popularity: Rare
Often used for boys; works for girls.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sweetness of love
- Popularity: Rare
The pride of being loved.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Of love, of the sun
- Popularity: Rare
Short and warm.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Beloved
- Popularity: Rare
The classical Sufi address to God.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Beloved
- Popularity: Rare
Variant spelling.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: World, the temporal world Sufis turn away from
- Popularity: #11328
Layered meaning.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Little light, the original Roxana
- Popularity: Rare
Diminutive of Roshana.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Light
- Popularity: #4728
The light of God in Sufi metaphysics.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sweet, pleasant
- Popularity: Rare
Tender and feminine.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Prayer, supplication
- Popularity: Rare
The act of devotion itself.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Praise, glorification
- Popularity: #11949
Devotional and modern.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: A spring in paradise
- Popularity: #3626
The water the blessed drink.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: A tree in paradise; repentance
- Popularity: #6349
Two layered meanings.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Radiant, brilliant
- Popularity: #543
One of the most common Persian girl names.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Pleasing, satisfied
- Popularity: Rare
After the great singer Marziyeh.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Voice of love
- Popularity: Rare
Compound; poetic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Tranquility, peace
- Popularity: #1613
Unisex; gentle.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sweet peace
- Popularity: Rare
Rare compound.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Honor, light from afar
- Popularity: #15948
Elegant and uncommon.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Brightness, divine light
- Popularity: Rare
The light of inspiration; literary.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Pride, dignity
- Popularity: Rare
For a strong-spirited girl.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic *ghazal*
- Meaning: Gazelle
- Popularity: Rare
Also the lyric poem form Hafez perfected.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Lyric poem, gazelle
- Popularity: #4218
The poetic form itself becomes the name.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Gift
- Popularity: Rare
For a long-awaited baby.
- Origin: Persian-influenced
- Meaning: One who fights for divine truth
- Popularity: #3053
Cross-cultural usage.
Sound-Forward Persian Names — Short, Punchy, Travel-Friendly
For parents who want a name that sails through international airports without revision. Two or three syllables, all phonemes that exist in English.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Enamel, azure
- Popularity: #608
Crosses into Spanish, Japanese, and English seamlessly.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Tender, soft
- Popularity: #263
Coincides with European Lena; distinct origin.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Strength, beloved
- Popularity: #578
Common across Arabic and Persian.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Dream
- Popularity: #2808
Two syllables, ends in the bright “ah” sound.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Star
- Popularity: #1021
Different etymology from Sanskrit Tara.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Good, virtuous
- Popularity: #3149
Distinct from Greek Nike.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Voice, song
- Popularity: #9
Same spelling as Latin Ava, different meaning.
- Origin: Persian variant
- Meaning: Grace, favor
- Popularity: #94
Persian usage from Anahita.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Hope
- Popularity: #513
International with Persian rootedness.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Pure
- Popularity: #188
Spelled with one R; carries the desert-pure meaning.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Wish
- Popularity: #2224
Compact and clear.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Night
- Popularity: #207
Variant of Leila for those who want simpler.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Sun, light
- Popularity: #455
Coincides with Slavic Kira.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Religion, faith
- Popularity: #1334
Crosses into Hebrew.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Beautiful
- Popularity: #3729
Two-syllable and elegant.
- Origin: Persian, from Arabic
- Meaning: Praise, brilliance
- Popularity: #1449
Bright sound.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Face, image
- Popularity: #2452
Soft.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Clay, earth
- Popularity: #2683
The Persian Tina is from *teen* meaning earth.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Diminutive of Roxana
- Popularity: #3204
Modern nickname for old name.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Pure, alone
- Popularity: #8861
Used as standalone.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Goodness
- Popularity: #10024
Short form of Nikta.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Pure goodness
- Popularity: Rare
Modern coinage.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Fairy
- Popularity: #6835
The most compact Persian name; one syllable, all magic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Unique
- Popularity: #16138
Modern and crisp.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: Clay, mud, earth
- Popularity: #2683
Same as above; the Persian etymology is humble.
How to Choose a Name From This List
Say it out loud. Then say it with your last name. Then say it the way an irritated kindergarten teacher will call it across a playground. A name that survives all three tests is doing real work.
If the name comes from the Shahnameh or Zoroastrian tradition, learn the story. Your daughter will eventually ask, and “I chose it because it sounded nice” is a thinner answer than “she was the warrior who duelled the prince of Turan disguised as a man.” Persian names reward parents who know what they’re carrying.
Pay attention to the spelling you choose. Soraya and Sorayya, Yasamin and Yasmin, Roxana and Roxanna — these are functionally the same name, but the spelling you pick will be the one she writes for the rest of her life. Pick the one that looks right to your eye on the page.
Consider whether the name will travel. Some of these names — Shaghayegh, Pouruchista, Tajossaltaneh — are gorgeous in Persian but will require lifelong patience from your daughter in English-speaking contexts. Others — Roya, Mina, Tara, Leila — slip across borders unchanged. Neither path is wrong, but they are different paths.
And finally: trust the recognition. The name you keep coming back to, the one you whisper to yourself in the car, the one you’ve quietly tested on three friends already — that’s the one.
Name Art for Your Favorite
Love a name from this list? MinimalistMama offers custom Name Art prints — personalized, minimalist nursery art with the name you choose, designed to match your aesthetic. A perfect gift for baby showers or to hang above the crib.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Persian names religious or secular?
Both, and it depends on the root. Names from the Shahnameh, Zoroastrian tradition, and Persian poetry (Mahsa, Roya, Anahita, Setareh) are secular in origin. Names with Arabic roots that came through Islam (Zahra, Maryam, Nadia) carry religious resonance. Many modern Iranian families deliberately choose pre-Islamic Persian names as a way of honoring older cultural identity. Either tradition produces beautiful names.
How do you pronounce names like Shaghayegh or Pouruchista?
Persian has a few sounds that don’t exist in English — the *gh* in Shaghayegh is a soft guttural, similar to the French *r*. For most Western contexts, families simplify: Shaghayegh becomes “sha-GHA-yegh” with a soft G, Pouruchista becomes “poo-roo-CHIS-ta.” If pronounceability matters to you, names like Roya, Mina, Leila, Soraya, and Tara are effortless in English.
What’s the difference between Persian and Arabic names?
Persian (Farsi) is an Indo-European language; Arabic is Semitic. They’re as different as English and Hebrew. However, after the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century, many Arabic words and names entered Persian use. So a “Persian name” today might be an ancient Indo-Iranian word like *Anahita*, a poetic Persian word like *Setareh*, or an Arabic word naturalized into Persian centuries ago like *Zahra*. All are legitimately Persian in current use.
Are these names used in the Iranian diaspora?
Very much so. The roughly 2 million people of Iranian heritage in North America and Europe have kept these names alive — and have actually accelerated revivals of pre-Islamic names like *Anahita*, *Atusa*, and *Roshanak* as a way of staying culturally rooted. You won’t be the only family at your pediatrician’s office with a Persian name, but you’ll likely be the only one in the kindergarten class.
Will my daughter face issues with non-Persian speakers mispronouncing her name?
Honestly, sometimes. Names like Soraya, Roxana, Leila, and Yasmin are now common enough in English that they cause no friction. Names like Niloufar, Mehrnoosh, or Shaghayegh will require a lifetime of gentle correction. Many Iranian-American families choose a Persian name that English speakers can already say (Tara, Mina, Roya, Sara) or pair a Persian first name with a more familiar middle name.
What does the ending “-dokht” mean in names like Pouran-dokht or Mehrdokht?
*Dokht* (دخت) is the classical Persian word for “daughter.” So Pourandokht means “daughter of Pouran,” Mehrdokht means “daughter of the sun,” and Sindokht means “daughter of India.” It’s a beautiful old suffix that signals a name with deep roots in classical Persian rather than modern coinage. The names ending in *-dokht* tend to feel especially literary.
How do Persian girl names typically end?
Most end in a vowel sound — *-a*, *-eh*, *-i*, or *-oo* — which gives them their characteristic lyrical quality. Names ending in *-eh* (Banafsheh, Parvaneh, Elaheh) are particularly Persian and rarer in other naming traditions. The vowel endings also make these names easier to integrate into English, since English speakers naturally soften final vowels.
Final Thoughts
A name from this list will sit on your daughter’s lips for the rest of her life. It will be embroidered on backpacks, called across soccer fields, signed at the bottom of love letters and tax returns. Persian names — polished by ten centuries of poets who took beauty seriously — are exceptionally well-equipped for that long carry. Whichever one you choose, you’re handing her something that’s been quietly perfected for a very long time.
Read next;
🎀 185+ Unique Baby Girl Names for 2026 (Rare & *Beautiful*)
🎀 85+ *Beautiful* Rare Baby Names for Girls
🎀 40+ *Best* Girl Names That Start with G
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