Husain

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• Muslim : from the Arabic personal name ̣Husayn, a diminutive of ̣Hasān ‘good’, ‘handsome’ (see Hasan). Husain (c. 626–680) and his elder brother Hasan were sons of the khalif ‛Alī ibn Abī ̣Tālib (see Ali) and, through their mother Fatima, grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad. The death of Husain in a massacre at Karbela signaled the beginning of a long period of internecine strife in the Muslim world. Shiite Muslims regard Hasan and his brother Husain as the true successors of Muhammad, and observe the day of his death as a day of mourning. The name is popular among Sunni Muslims as well as Shiites.