aoa, my name is madeeha and i belong to Lahore. i want to name my daughter" Mahnum", but im unable to find its meaning on the internet. it was actually one of my students name back when i used to teach.. i really like it. please could you kindly tell me the genre and the meaning.
Answer
Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,
Mah is Persian for "moon", num could be Persian for "half" (thus "half of the moon") or raindrop (thus "moon raindrop") (the original Persian word is nam, but some people may pronounce it as num). The word num could also be Arabic for "sleep", thus "sleep of the moon".
If the name was Mahnam, with a long "a" at the end, then it would mean "one whose name is the moon", "one who is renowned and well-known".
The Mah can be pronounced with both a short "a" and a long "a", the short "a" pronunciation is more literary, while the long "a" pronunciation is more common.
