Rabab

Spellings & scripts●

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 in 1 language 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◐

Rabab 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 name270 records spelled Rabab2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Morocco, Iraq

  Also written Rabāb

• Russian given name99 records spelled Rabab6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Syria, Iraq, Türkiye

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Рабаб

• Hebrew given name81 records spelled Rabab2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Morocco, Israel, Syria

  Also written רעבב

• Turkish given name65 records spelled Rabab86 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, Thailand, Syria, Morocco

  Languages: Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic

  Also written Rabia, ระเบียบ, Rabiab, Rabeab, 'ระเบียบ

29 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●

Rabab 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 Arabic, usually two-stringed instrument

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

• In German, weibl. Vom. arabischer Herkunft (arab. rabäb, Bezeichnung für ein Saiteninstru­ ment, das einer Fiedel ähnlich ist).

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• White clouds, a

  as a name·Dictionary of Islamic Names

• White clouds

  as a name·Dictionary of Islamic Names

• In English, An Arabian stringed instrument, played by plucking or with a bow.

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

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) — 71 years between 1916–2015. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Rabab al-Kadhimib. 1918IQIraqi physician and poet
• Rabab al-Sadrb. 1944LBis a Lebanese social and human rights activist and philanthropist
• Rabab Fetiehb. 1950SASaudi academic
• Rabab Abdulhadib. 1955USPalestinian-American professor, director of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (born 1955)
• Rabab Kanaanb. 1971SYSyrian actress
• Rabab Ashourb. 1979EGEgyptian weightlifter
• Rabab Cheddarb. 1991MAMoroccan boxer
• Rabab Uhadib. 2002MAMoroccan taekwondo practitioner
• Rubab bint Imra al-Qaisnot in their usual namespouse of Al-Hussain Bin Ali
• Rabab FatimaBDBangladeshi diplomat

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 · 209 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Rabab?

We estimate roughly 1.9 thousand people bear Rabab (counting its spellings and scripts) across 6 countries in our records.

In which country does Rabab have the most bearers?

Rabab is most frequently recorded in Egypt, where it is most often spelled rabab.

How common is Rabab compared with other names?

In Egypt, Rabab is the 681st most common given name of 72,792 given names recorded there.

Is Rabab a male or female name?

Rabab is a female 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 Rabab mean?

Recorded meaning: From a word denoting a stringed musical instrument resembling the fiddle.