Name of the Week: Khadija

 

Origin:

The most famous Khadija, and a reason the name has been so widely used, is Khadīja bint Khuwaylid (c.555–620), the first wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.  She is often called Khadīja al-Kubra (Khadija the Great) and known as "Umm ul Muminin"(Mother of the believers) as the first convert to the Muslim faith. Alongside her daughter Fatima, the Virgin Mary, and Asiya (the Pharoah's daughter who saved Moses), Khadija is considered one Islam's four "Ladies of heaven" whom Muhammad regarded as the "best women of mankind." Khadija was quite a remarkable woman. Born to a successful merchant father of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca, Khadija took over the family business herself after his death. She was an astute business woman, and, under her leadership, her caravan became large and successful with a reputation for fair-dealing and high-quality goods. Among her contemporaries she earned the titles Ameerat-Quraysh ("Princess of Quraysh") and al-Tahira ("The Pure One"). She is said to have given much of her wealth to feed and clothe the needy, and supported the poorer women of her tribe by providing them with dowries.  By the age of fourty, Khadija was a wealthy business woman and twice widowed. She was rich and independent enough to have no need to make a marriage for political or financial gain (as was the norm), and rejected marriage proposals left, right and centre.  However, hearing of Muhammad's skill at managing caravans, Khadija hired him to work for her. She was greatly impressed by his character and, by all accounts, fell in love with him. She had no need of a husband -- and he had no means of keeping a wife -- yet fourty year-old Khadija asked the dashing 25 year-old Muhammed to marry her, and he accepted. Their marriage was a very happy one; during her lifetime, she was Muhammad's only wife, even though polygyny was common practice, and her support and confidence in her husband were a key aspect of his Prophethood.  Khadija is a transliterated form of the Arabic name خديجة, a feminine form of خديج (khadij) "premature." Arabic dictionaries suggest that the word khadij was associated originally with camel foals, with the meaning of "prematurely-born camel." There are also suggestions that it may have been used as a metaphor for a newborn baby. Mūsā al-Hādī, the fourth Abbasid caliph, is referred to in prose as Abu Khadij, "father of a prematurely born camel foal" presumably because he was father of a newly born son at that time.  Thus, Khadija may not necessarily be a description of an early birth, but an affectionate name much like the Hebrew Rachel "ewe" and Greek Damaris "calf." Camels were highly-prized animals in Arabia and essential for trade and merchant caravans. Khadija was a merchant herself, as were her parents. Other Arabic names also allude camels such as Bakr "young camel" and Hind/Hindah "group of camels" -- a name of one of Khadija's daughters -- so clearly it was a positive association.  It is interesting to note that, although Islamic names have righteous, positive meanings (as prescribed by Mohammad), Pre-Islamic Arabic names like Khadija often have illusions to birth or young animals, such as Uthman "baby bustard" (a name of one of Muhammad's companions), Walid "newborn" (a Quraysh leader and contemporary of Khadija) and Haytham "young eagle."

Usage:

As such an important Islamic name, Khadija has been used in Arabic-speaking and countries since the 6th century. With migration of Islam, the name has since travelled around the world to Europe, Africa and America. There is very little evidence of the name used in Britain before the 20th century.  The Birth Index of England and Wales has record of a Kadijah Maria Pool born in Sussex in 1849 and a Khadijah Mary Edington in London in 1882. The latter was named after her African-born mother while the former was born to parents William and Elizabeth and had a younger sister named Ayesha Matilda. Were her parents Muslim converts? Or were they perhaps inspired Arabian(esque) Victorian tales, published in newspapers?  After that, the name was registered once in the 1930s, the 1940s and the 1950s. Thanks to increased immigration in the 1950s, the name began to be registered more regularly in the 1960s and 1970s.  Since 1996, Khadija and Khadijah have been steadily rising in England and Wales. In 2014, Khadija ranked #187 (284 births) and Khadijah ranked #213 (246 births).  When combined with other variant spellings (Khadeeja, Khadeejah, Kadija etc), the name ranked #110 in the England and Wales 2014 combined spellings ranks. In Scotland, both Khadija and Khadijah reached a peak at #430 (8 births) in 2014. The name did not rank at all, however, in Northern Ireland.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Khadīja bint Khuwaylid (c.555–620), the first wife of Muhammad. * Khadijah of the Maldives, Sultana of the Maldives from 1347 to 1380. * Khadija Gayibova (1893–1938), Azerbaijani female pianist . Contemporary: * Khadija Arib (b. 1960), Dutch politician. * Khadija al-Salami (b. 1966), Yemeni film producer. * Khadija Abbouda (b. 1968), Moroccan athlete. * Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco (b. 2007), second child of Mohammed VI of Morocco. Literature and Other Media: * Khadijah James, character in the television series Living Single.

Variants:

Khadijah, Khadeeja, Khadeejah, Khadeja, Kadija, Kadijah, Khadidja

Pronunciation:

kə-DEE-jə [key]

Possible  diminutive:

Kaddy, Kaia, Keeja, Kia, Dee, Didi, Deja

Sibling Names:

Samira     Aisha     Zainab     Salma      Aleena     Sumaya       Iskandar     Faris     Qadir     Omar     Amir     Zayn

Name Lists:

Arabic Names

 

 

If you like Khadija you may also like:   Anaya, Khalida, Danika, Amina, Kalila, Dalila, Aziza, Malaika, Zunairah, Maryam

 

Thanks to K for requesting this post.