- Meaning
- Perfumer, apothecary
- Origin
- Arabic
- Gender
- Boy
- Arabic root
- ع-ط-ر
- Urdu
- عطار
- Pronunciation
- att-ar
Is Attar an Islamic name? Yes. Attar is an established name in Muslim use, Arabic in origin. Its settled meaning is: Perfumer, apothecary. Islamic tradition asks that a name carry a good meaning and claim nothing that belongs to God alone, and this name meets both.
Read the letter-by-letter reading ↓Attar (عطار) means: Perfumer, apothecary. Fariduddin Attar, the great Sufi poet, author of Conference of the Birds.
Section 1 · Arabic Root
Where the Name Comes From
The root letters of Attar are ع-ط-ر. From this same root the classical Arabic dictionaries derive a whole family of words that share the underlying idea. In Ilm ul Huroof each letter of the root is read for its ontological quality; the sum of the root letters gives the field of meanings that the name is set inside.
See the letter reading above for how each letter carries its share of the whole.
Section 2 · Ilm ul Huroof
Read Letter by Letter
The letters of Attar unpack as follows in the classical Science of Letters:
Ain (ع): the eye, the source, the wellspring · Ta (ط): depth, the ground-strike, the plow · Alif (ا): origin, standing upright, the first breath · Ra (ر): the head, the direction taken
Section 3 · Synthesis
What This Reading Says About You
Attar carries fire and water together, the two most different elements, will and mercy in one hand. This is a person of intense inner weather, capable of both flame and calm depth. Sitting inside the reading is Al-Alim, the All-Knowing, giving the bearer a knowing that predates study, softened by Al-Rahman, the Merciful, carried as mercy that keeps moving even when tested. A person named Attar contains more than they show.
Section 4 · What Families Say
What People Usually Mean by This Name
Attar is an Arabic name, drawn from the classical Arabic lexicographic tradition (Lisan al-Arab, al-Sihah, Taj al-Arus). The name carries the meaning: Perfumer, apothecary. Fariduddin Attar, the great Sufi poet, author of Conference of the Birds.
Every letter of Attar in the Arabic script has been read in the classical tradition of Ilm ul Huroof as an ontological principle: the letters do not merely spell the sound of the name, they carry the qualities the tradition ascribes to it. See the letter reading above.
In Islam, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: "You will be called on the Day of Resurrection by your names and the names of your fathers, so give yourselves good names" (Abu Dawud). A well-chosen name is a lifelong invocation of the meaning it carries.
Section 5 · Bearers
Who Has Carried This Name
How to Pronounce Attar
Parents often pair Attar with a sibling name that shares a letter, a root, or a community tradition. Names with a strong Arabic root are traditionally paired with other classical Arabic names; names from a specific regional Muslim tradition are traditionally paired within that tradition.
Browse the AsrNaam library to find a companion name for Attar:
Frequently Asked Questions