Girl · Arabic (Urdu usage) · Muslim
Haya
حیاSay it ha-YAA
- Meaning today
- Modesty, shyness
- Original meaning
- "modesty, honest shame, bashfulness" Lane, p. 681–682
- Say it
- ha-YAA
- Written
- حیا
- Other spellings
- Hayaa, Hayya
Haya
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Haya meaning
Haya (حیا) is a Muslim girl's name of Arabic origin (Urdu usage).
Modesty, honest shame, bashfulness
Also used to mean: shyness
Haya (حیا) is Arabic ḥayāʾ, from the root ḥ-y-y, which also gives ḥayāt, "life". Lane's lexicon defines ḥayāʾ as shame, a sense of shame, shyness or bashfulness, and particularly honest shame or modesty, which he explains as the soul shrinking from foul conduct. A well-known hadith calls ḥayāʾ a branch of faith, and the word is everyday Urdu for modesty. Name lists give Haya as "modesty", and some add "life", which belongs to the related word ḥayāt.
Source: Lane, An Arabic–English Lexicon (1863–93), Book I, Part 2, p. 681–682 · entry ḥayāʾ (حَيَاءٌ), root ḥ-y-y · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
References: Lane, Arabic–English Lexicon, ḥayāʾ (root ḥ-y-y), Book I p. 681–682
Popularity abroad
- #426 England and Wales, girls 2025
Office for National Statistics
Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.
Spellings
Haya · Hayaa · Hayya