A different part of me that not many knew exists.

I posted about choosing my future kids name two days ago. Their names were picked out about a year ago but I grew to love the names. Growing up in a Muslim family, the names given to us (me and my sisters) are of Arabic origin. My real name, Amira Arina means "the active/smart princess", with Amira bearing the meaning "princess" and Arina, "cergas/cerdas". 

Tiba-tiba datang angin nak tulis dalam BM. Or rojak. Whichever. Where was I? Oh yeah. Orang sekeliling selalu ingatkan, "nanti letak la nama anak yang ada makna macam Siti Al-Baqarah ke, Nurul Fatihah ke..."

Bukan nak kata apa, nama tu memang sedap cuma tak kena dengan my jiwa. Since the father of my future kids' name is very English, we chose names yang boleh pakai dua-dua belah pihak so that tak la awkward sangat bila letak surname dia kat belakang.

The reason I wrote this is because the names we came up with aren't Arabic names. Some of you asked and when I told you, korang cakap yang I tak sedar diri sebab nak nama macam tu. Ada ke patut... 

Memang, nama yang dipilih bukan dalam bahasa Arab tapi setiapa nama yang dipilih ada makna and makna tu elok.

Ada juga pihak yang mengatakan bahawa dalam Islam, kita mesti letak nama Arab sebab Al-Quran dalam bahasa Arab and time kiamat nanti, kita akan bertutur dalam bahasa Arab. Yes, but that's a whole different story.

To me la kan, tak kisah the origin of the name asal sedap didengar dan membawa maksud yang indah. Kalau nama dalam bahasa Arab tapi makna dia tak elok, tak guna juga kan? 

Sebagai contoh, I'll name one of my girls Lara Sophia. Lara originated from Latin meaning protection. Sophia pula bermaksud menawan. 

Lara Sophia = Perlindungan Menawan

What's so bad about it? Bunyi pun sedap, boleh guna both as Malay names and English and makna pun okay. Win win. 

So that's one thing. Another thing is Malays using the English version of the Prophets' names, such as Noah (Nuh), Abraham (Ibrahim), Jacob (Yaakob), Joseph (Yusuf), Moses (Musa), David (Daud), Zachary (Zakaria) or the names of the angels like Gabriel (Jibril) and Michael (Mikail), or just ordinary names like Aaron (Harun) and Daniel (Danial).

The Muslims di negara-negara Barat, takkan nama mereka Daud, Ibrahim dan Yusuf kan? Their names are David, Abraham and Joseph. Ikut tempat dan budaya la kan, and their version of Quran is in English. That doesn't make it wrong, does it? I doubt that. With that being said, apa salahnya kalau orang Melayu like myself name my kids with English names like Michael? Not that I'm naming my son Michael (impossible, since I'm obsessed with two Michaels already, Buble and Vartan). My point is, tak salah rasanya sebab makna dia sama dengan makna Mikail cuma Mikail dalam bahasa Arab dan Michael dalam bahasa Inggeris.

Another example, the legendary P.Ramlee movie, Ahmad Albab. Great movie but really, do you think anyone in their right mind would name their son Ahmad Albab? Albab is Arabic, and it means door or pintu. Ahmad Pintu. Seriously? Luckily it was just a movie or that kid's gonna have a hard time growing up.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter where the names originated from as long as they bear beautiful meanings. My kids names are beautiful and yes, they have meanings. All 5 chosen names. 

What say you?

What do you wanna name your kids?