Jafar

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Zafar in PK Pakistan, US United States, SA Saudi Arabia and 5 more, Jaafar in MY Malaysia, FR France, PH Philippines and 5 more, Зафар in RU Russia, UZ Uzbekistan, KZ Kazakhstan and 2 more and Джафар in UA Ukraine, AZ Azerbaijan.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Jafar is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name63K records spelled Jafar4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Ethiopia, Pakistan

  Also written Jáfar, Jăfăr, Ja'Far

• Persian given name12K records spelled Jafar4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Iran, India, United States, Afghanistan

  Languages: Persian, Pashto

  Also written Ja’far, Ja'Far

• French given name2.2K records spelled Jafar2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Syria, India

  Also written Ja'Far

• Amharic given name1.4K records spelled Jafar2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Nigeria, Ethiopia, United States

  Also written ጃፋር

52 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Jafar is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A transliteration of an Arabic and Persian male given name.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Arabic, spring, rivulet

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

• In French, Du persan/arab. Ja‘far, « ruisseau » ou « torrent ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Origine arabe; nom du frère d’Ali, cousin de Mahomet.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• Río, corriente

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 92 years between 1899–2015. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Mirza Dzhafar Topchubashevb. 1790AZnot in their usual nameRussian orientalist of Azerbaijani origin (1790–1869)
• Jafar Kazymovb. 1897AZAzerbaijani mining engineer, victim of repression
• Jafar Panahib. 1901IRIranian politician and merchant
• Jafar Bozorgib. 1917IRIranian singer and actor (1917–2006)
• Jafar Valib. 1933IRIranian actor and screenwriter (1933-2016)
• Ja'far Meili Monfaredb. 1953IRnot in their usual nameIranian faculty
• Jafar Dehghanb. 1960IRIranian actor
• Al-Sayed Jafar Ebrahim Jafarb. 1985BHbadminton player
• Jafar Ariasb. 1995NLCuraçaoan professional footballer
• Jafar Hidayatullahb. 2003IDbadminton player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 335 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Jafar?

We estimate roughly 2.6 thousand people bear Jafar (counting its spellings and scripts) across 3 countries in our records.

In which country does Jafar have the most bearers?

Jafar is most frequently recorded in India, where it is most often spelled jafar.

How common is Jafar compared with other names?

In Pakistan, Jafar is the 23rd most common given name of 75,254 given names recorded there.

Is Jafar a male or female name?

Jafar is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Jafar mean?

Recorded meaning: spring, rivulet. Comp.