Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
Ja'far’s family of names
Ja'far has a related form in Ga‘far. In Persian usage, Ja'far is a Roman-alphabet rendering of جعفر.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 6
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Ja'far
- Ja'far al-SadiqMuslim scholar and Imam (died 765)699–765
- Jafar PanahiIranian film directorborn 1960
- Al-Mutawakkil10th Abbasid caliph (822–861, r. 847–861)
- Al-MuqtadirThe eighteenth Abbasid Caliph895–932
- Gaafar NimeirySudanese President (1931-2009)
- Ja'far ibn Abi TalibCompanion (Sahabi) and cousin of Muhammad (c. 590–629)589–629
- Jafar Sharif-EmamiPersian engineer and politician (1910-1998)
- Ja'far ibn Yahya8th century Vizier of Harun al-Rashid's Court760–803
- Jafar JabbarlyAzerbaijani playwright, poet, director and screenwriter (1899-1934)
Characters named Ja'far: Jafar (Aladdin character).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Ja'far, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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“small bird; sparrow”
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