Girl · Arabic · Muslim · International
Iqra
اقراSay it IK-ra
- Meaning
- Read! recite! (command form of qaraʾa) Lane, p. 2502
- Say it
- IK-ra
- Written
- اقرا
- Other spellings
- Iqraa, Ikra
Iqra
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Iqra meaning
Iqra (اقرا) is a Muslim and international girl's name of Arabic origin.
Read! recite! (command form of qaraʾa)
Iqra (اقرا) is Arabic iqraʾ, the command form of qaraʾa, which Lane's Lexicon glosses as "he read, or recited". It is the first word of Quran 96:1, "Read in the name of your Lord who created", traditionally held to be the first verse revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. The same root gives the word Qurʾān, "recitation". Name lists give the same meaning, "read" or "recite", and the name carries that call to reading and learning. Because Urdu spelling usually drops the final hamza, it is written اقرا, and in English Iqra, Iqrah or Ikra. It is a name chosen by Muslim families in Pakistan and India.
Source: Lane, An Arabic–English Lexicon, Book I, Part 7 (1885), p. 2502 · entry قرأ · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
References: Lane, Arabic–English Lexicon, Book I Part 7, qaraʾa, pp. 2501–2502 · Quran 96:1
Popularity abroad
- #281 England and Wales, girls 2025
Office for National Statistics
Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.
Spellings
Iqra · Iqraa · Ikra