Assalamu Alaikum. I really like the name Aariz (Aaridh) and its meaning is rain-bearing cloud, according to your website. However, when I looked it up in Arabic dictionaries, cheek or face is the meaning I've mostly come across. In its verb form (Aaradh), it meant 'to protest' albeit without a kasra for alphabet 'ra'. Since we generally write names in arabi without vowels, I'm afraid my son's name would give a negative meaning. I plan to name my son Aariz Mohammed. Please advice.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

The meanings you mentioned are correct. Aariz/Aaridh, spelled as عَارِض in Arabic, has various meanings, among them "side of the face", "cheek", "mountain", "screen". And if you change the vowels, for example making it عَارَضَ (Aaraza), it means "he/she protested/exchanged something".

Thus you are right that some people may misunderstand the name, since as you said names are usually written with the harakat. Therefore it is up to you whether you think this name is a good choice or not. For a person who lives in India or Pakistan, the name may not be an issue since Arabic is not their first language, but for Egypt or Saudi it might be an issue.