Girl · Arabic · Muslim
Sumaiya
سمیہSay it su-MAI-ya
- Meaning today
- High, exalted
- Original meaning
- "diminutive of samāʾ, 'sky, a canopy overhead'" Lane, p. 1434–1435
- Say it
- su-MAI-ya
- Written
- سمیہ
- Other spellings
- Sumayya, Sumaiyya, Sumaya
Sumaiya
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Sumaiya meaning
Sumaiya (سمیہ) is a Muslim girl's name of Arabic origin.
Meaning today
High, exalted
Original Arabic meaning
"diminutive of samāʾ, 'sky, a canopy overhead'"
Source: Lane, An Arabic–English Lexicon, Book I, Part 4 (1872), p. 1434–1435 · entry سمية (under سماء, root سمو) · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
Sumaiya (سمیہ), in Arabic Sumayya, comes from the root s-m-w, "to be high". Lane's Lexicon gives sumayya as the diminutive of samāʾ, "sky" or any canopy overhead, so read literally it means "little sky". Scholars have proposed other derivations too; a Darul Iftaa answer, for example, takes it from sāmiya, a woman high in status. Name lists today give "high" or "exalted", which follows the root sense. The name is honoured as that of Sumayya bint Khayyāṭ, mother of ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, who was killed in Mecca for refusing to renounce Islam and is remembered as the first martyr of Islam. Her husband Yāsir was killed soon after.
References: Lane, Arabic–English Lexicon, Book I Part 4, sumayya under samāʾ, p. 1434 · Darul Iftaa (Islamic Solutions), Name Sumayya · Wikipedia, Sumayya
Famous namesakes
- Sumayya bint Khayyāṭ, mother of ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, remembered as the first martyr of Islam
Spellings
Sumaiya · Sumayya · Sumaiyya · Sumaya