Ali (name)

Ali

Calligraphic seal featuring Caliph Ali's name, on display in the Hagia Sophia
Pronunciation	Arabic: [ˈʕæli] Persian: [ʔæˈliː] Turkish: [aˈli] Urdu: [ʔəˈliː]
Gender	Unisex
Language	Arabic (source), Amharic, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Bengali, Indonesian, Pashto, Persian, Somali, Swahili, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Urdu, Uzbek, etc.
Origin
Word/name	Arabic, Germanic, Finnish, Hebrew, English, French
Meaning	eminent, high, exalted, noble
Region of origin	Arab world/Muslim world, Northern Europe
Other names
Variant forms	Ally, Aly, Alli, Alley, Allie, Aliy, Aliyy, Alee
Related names	Eli

Ali is a common unisex given name and surname of multiple origins.

Origins

In Arabic, Ali is derived from the Arabic triconsonantal root ʕ-l-w, which literally means "high", "elevated", "champion", ”king of kings”, ”emperor”, and is used as both a given name and surname. Islamic traditional use of the name goes back to the Islamic leader Ali ibn Abi Talib, but the name is also present among some pre-Islamic Arabs (e.g. Banu Hanifa, and some rulers of Saba and Himyar). It is identical in form and meaning to the Hebrew: עֵלִי, Eli, which goes back to the High Priest Eli in the biblical Books of Samuel.

The Ali surname is especially common in Arab countries and the rest of the Muslim world.

Ali is the most common last name in Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Somalia, Kuwait and Libya. The last name can also be found among the Indian Muslim and Pakistani communities, as it is often associated with the descendants of Ali in these regions.

The name Ali is also used in various other cultures as a given name. Among English speakers it is used as a short form of male or female names starting with "Ali", such as Alice, Alina, Alison, Alisha, Alistair, Alexander, or Alexandra. In Old Norse, Áli and Åle are alternative forms of Onela. Ali is a Finnish male given name, derived from Aleksanteri.

Islam

• Ali ibn Abi Talib (601–661), cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the fourth Caliph of Sunni Islam.
• Ali ibn Husayn (Zayn al-Abidin) (659–713), grandson of Ali ibn Abi Talib,
• Ali ibn Musa (ar-Ridha) (766–818), eighth infallible Imam in Shia Islam
• Ali ibn Muhammad (al-Hadi) (829–868), tenth infallible Imam in Shia Islam
• Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari (838–870), Persian Muslim scholar, physician and psychologist
• Ali al-Muktafi (877/78–908), Abbasīd caliph from 902 to 908
• Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin (658/59–712/14), Imam in Shiʻi Islam
• Ali ibn al-Athir (1160–1232/33), 12th- and 13th-century Islamic historian and geographer
• Ali bin Hussein, King of Hejaz (1879–1935), second king of Hejaz

Given male name

Given female name

Middle name

• Abbas Ali Khalatbari (1912–1979), Iranian diplomat
• Abdus Sobahan Ali Sarkar (born 1976), Bengali MLA of Assam
• Ahmad Ali Sepehr (1889–1976), Iranian historian and politician
• Ahmed Ali Enayetpuri (1898–1959), Bengali author and journalist
• Ajmal Ali Choudhury (1916–1971), Bengali politician
• Akbar Ali Khan (1944–2022), Bangladeshi economist
• Golam Ali Chowdhury (1824–1888), Bengali landlord and philanthropist
• Güzelce Ali Pasha (died 1621), Ottoman statesman and military figure
• Hatem Ali Jamadar (1872–1982), Bengali politician
• Janab Ali Majumdar, Bengali politician
• Lotf Ali Khan (1769–1794), last Shah of the Zand dynasty, of Persia
• Mahbub Ali Khan (1934–1984), Bangladeshi chief of naval staff
• Mehmet Ali Birand (1941–2013), Turkish journalist
• Mohammad Ali Varasteh (1896–1989), Iranian statesman
• Mohammed Ali Qamar, Bengali boxer
• Morshed Ali Khan Panni, Bangladeshi politician
• Müezzinzade Ali Pasha (died 1571), Ottoman statesman and naval officer
• Najib Ali Choudhury, Bengali Islamic scholar
• Osman Ali Sadagar (1856–1948), Bengali-Assamese politician and educationist
• Rowshan Ali Chowdhury (1874–1933), Bengali journalist
• Saif Ali Khan (born 1970), Indian film actor
• Seydi Ali Reis (1498–1563), Ottoman admiral and navigator
• Sherman Ali Ahmed, Bengali MLA of Assam
• Uluç Ali Reis (1519–1587), Italian farmer who became Kapudan Pasha
• Wajid Ali Choudhury (born 1959), Bengali MLA of Assam
• Wajed Ali Khan Panni (1871–1936), Bengali aristocrat
• Wajid Ali Khan Panni II, Bangladeshi politician
• Yakub Ali Chowdhury (1888–1940), Bengali essayist

Surname

Derived names

Mononyms

See also

• Alli (disambiguation)
• Allie
• Alley (surname)
• Prince Ali (disambiguation)
• Turkish name

References

Name list

This page or section lists people that share the same given name or the same family name.
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