Jafar (), meaning in Arabic ”

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

," is a masculine name of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

origin, common among middle eastern and Muslim men, especially in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. It may also be written Jafar, Jaffar, Jafer, Jaafar, or in the Egyptian Arabic pronunciation, Gafar or Gaafar. The Turkish transliteration of the name is Cafer, in Azerbaijani Cəfər, in

Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

Džafer and in Albanian Xhafer.

Historical persons

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib ( September 629), also known as ''Jaʿfar aṭ-Ṭayyār'' (), was a companion and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and an elder brother of Ali. Early life Ja'far was the third son of Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Mutt ...

(590–629), companion of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, older brother of Ali * Jafar ibn Ali (died 680), son of Ali and Umm ul-Banin *

Ja'far al-Sadiq Ja'far al-Sadiq (; –765) was a Muslim hadith transmitter and the last agreed-upon Shia Imam between the Twelvers and Isma'ilis. Known by the title al-Sadiq ("The Truthful"), Ja'far was the eponymous founder of the Ja'fari school of Isla ...

(702–765), descendant of Ali, sixth imam of Shia Islam * Ja'far ibn Abdallah al-Mansur, (743–767) was the elder son of caliph

al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ‎; 714 – 6 October 775) usually known simply as by his laqab al-Manṣūr () was the second Abbasid caliph, reigning from 754 to 775 succeeding his brother al-Saffah (). He is known ...

. * Ja'far ibn Yahya (767–803), one of the Barmakids, vizier of Caliph

Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...

* Abu Jaafar al-Mansur, 7th-century Abbasid caliph * Ja'far al-Mutawakkil (822–861), the tenth Abbasid caliph * Abu Ma'shar Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Balkhi (787–886), Persian scholar * Mir Jafar (1691–1765), military commander who betrayed the

Nawab of Bengal The Nawab of Bengal (, ) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa which constitute the mod ...

Siraj ud-Daulah Mir Syed Jafar Ali Khan Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah (1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of the Bengal Subah. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of th ...

* Mir Jafar Dasni (died 841), a rebel, who rebelled against Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim * Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman (fl. 10th century), Ismaili theologian * Ja'far ibn Fallah (died 971),

Kutama The Kutama (Berber: ''Ikutamen''; ) were a Berber tribe in northern Algeria classified among the Berber confederation of the Bavares. The Kutama are attested much earlier, in the form ''Koidamousii'' by the Greek geographer Ptolemy. The Kutama p ...

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

general of the Fatimids * Ja'far ibn al-Furat (921–1001),

Ikhshidid The Ikhshidid dynasty (, ) was a Turkic dynasty of governors of mamluk origin, who governed Egypt and parts of the Levant from 935 to 969 on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphate. The dynasty carried the Arabic title "Wāli" reflecting their position a ...

and

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

vizier * Jafar ibn Ali al-Hadi (c.840–c.885), son of the tenth imam of Twelver Shia Islam, Ali al-Hadi, and a founder of the Ja'fariyya sect * Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Hasani (died 876/7), first

Sharif of Mecca The Sharif of Mecca () was the title of the leader of the Sharifate of Mecca, traditional steward of the Holiest sites in Islam, Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The term ''sharif'' is Arabic for "noble", "highborn", and is used to desc ...

* Ja'far al-Mufawwid, Abbasid prince and heir-apparent of Caliph al-Mu'tamid * Ja'far al-Muqtadir (895–832), the eighteenth Abbasid caliph * Jafar Tabrizi (also known as Farīd al-Dīn and Qeblat al-Kottāb), 15th century master in calligraphy as well as a poet and scribe * Ja'far ibn Sa'id (died 1764/5), Sharif of Mecca * Jafar Khan (died 1789), King of Persia

Modern persons

Given name

Jafar

* Ja'afar Mahmud Adam (1960–2007), Nigerian Islamic scholar * Jafar Alam (born 1957), Bangladeshi politician and Member of Parliament * Jafar Alizadeh (born 1956), Iranian wrestler * Jafar Arias (born 1995), Curaçaoan footballer * Jafar al-Askari (1887–1936), prime minister of Iraq * Jafar Bazri, (born 1987), Iranian footballer * Jafar Bolhari (born 1948), Iranian psychiatrist * Jafar Ebrahimi, Iranian poet * Jafar al-Hakim (born 1965), Shiite Ayatollah in Najaf, Iraq * Jafar Hidayatullah (born 2003), Indonesian badminton player * Jafar Iqbal (born 1999), Bangladeshi footballer * Jafar Irismetov (born 1976), Uzbekistan footballer and coach * Jafar Jabbarli (1899–1934), Azerbaijani playwright, poet, director and screenwriter * Jafar Dhia Jafar (born 1943), Iraqi nuclear physicist * Jafar Khan Jamali (1911–1967), Indian politician, tribal chief and an All-India Muslim League veteran from Balochistan * Jafar Kazemi (1964–2011), Iranian political prisoner sentenced to death and hanged for co-operation with the Iranian opposition group PMOI * Jafar Mokhtarifar (born 1957), Iranian footballer * Jafar Mondal (born 1999), Indian footballer * Jafar Panahi (born 1960), Iranian filmmaker * Jafar Salmasi (1918–2000), Iranian weightlifter * Jafar Shafaghat (c.1915–2000), Iranian General officer in the Iranian Pahlavi Army * Jafar Shahidi (1918–2008), scholar of Persian language and literature and historian of Islam * Jafar Sharif-Emami (1910–1998), Prime minister of Iran * Jafar Sobhani (born 1929), Iranian Shia Marja * Jafar Shojouni (1932–2016) Iranian Shia cleric and politician who served a member of the Parliament of Iran * Jafar Towfighi (born 1956), Iranian engineer and politician * Jafar Zafarani (born 1947), Iranian mathematician * Jafar Umar Thalib (1961–2019), Indonesian ulama and Islamic political figure

Jaafar

* Jaafar Abbas, Sudanese writer and journalist * Jaafar Abdul Karim (born 1981), German journalist and TV presenter * Jaafar Abdul Aziz (born 1947), Bruneian aristocrat, businessman and retired general * Jaafar al-Sadr (born 1970), Iraqi poliitician * Jaafar Jaafar, Nigerian journalist * Jaafar Jackson (born 1996), American singer and actor * Jaafar Jotheri, Iraqi geomorphologist * Jaafar Mohammed Saad (1950–2015), Yemeni politician and soldier * Jaafar Muhammad (1838–1919), Malaysian politician * Jaafar Munroe, Trinidadian footballer * Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa (born 1950), Kurdish politician * Jaafar Shenaishil (born 2003), Iraqi footballer * Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari (born 1957), Malaysian diplomat

Ja'far

* Ja'far Kashfi, Persian philosopher of 19th century * Ja'far Modarres-Sadeghi (born 1954), Iranian novelist and editor * Ja'far Pishevari (1893–1947), Iranian politician * Ja'afar Touqan (1938–2014), Palestinian-Jordanian architect

Jaffar

* Jaffar Idukki (born 1971), Indian impressionist and actor in Malayalam film * Jaffer Zaidi, Pakistani musician and lead vocalist of the Pakistani band Kaavish

Jaffer

* Jaffer Rahimtoola (1870–1914), Indian barrister

Cafer

* Cafer Çağatay (1899–1991), Turkish footballer * Cafer Osman Topçı (1921–1944), Crimean Tatar officer in the Soviet Army * Cafer Sadık Kutlay (1912–1988), Turkish businessman, civil engineer and politician * Cafer Seydamet Qırımer (1889–1960), Crimean Tatar politician and writer * Cafer Tayyar Eğilmez (1877–1958), Turkish politician * Cafer Tosun (born 1999), Turkish footballer Džafer * Džafer Kulenović (1891–1956), Yugoslav politician who led the Yugoslav Muslim Organization in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and was briefly government minister

Gaafar

Gaafar Nimeiry Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry (otherwise spelled in English as Gaafar Nimeiry, Jaafar Nimeiry, or Ja'far Muhammad Numayri; ; 1 January 193030 May 2009) was a Sudanese military officer and politician who served as the fourth president of Sudan, hea ...

(1930–2009), President of Sudan

Xhafer

* Xhafer Bej Ypi (1880–1940), Albanian politician * Xhafer Deva (1904–1978), Kosovo Albanian politician * Xhafer Spahiu (1923–1999), Albanian politician

Middle name

* Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (1927–2017), Indian sitar player * C. K. Jaffer Sharief or Challakere Kareem Jaffer Sharief (1933–2018), Indian politician * Akif Jafar Hajiyev (1937–2015), Azerbaijani mathematician * Mir Jafar Baghirov (1896–1956), Azerbaijani communist leader under the Soviet rule * Mufti Jafar Hussain (1914–1983), Pakistani Shia mujtahid and political leader * Ali Jaafar Mohamed Madan (born 1995), Bahraini footballer * Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, Iranian scholar of Islamic studies and a former diplomat * Mohammad Jafar Mahjoub (1924–1996), Iranian scholar of Persian literature, essayist, translator and teacher * Muhammad Jafar Moravej (1910–1999), Iranian Cleric * Mohammad Jafar Montazeri (born 1949), Iranian cleric and judge and the current Attorney-General of Iran * Mohammad Jafar Moradi (born 1990), Iranian long distance runner * Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan (born 1950), Omani diplomat and academic * Mustafa Jaffer Sabodo (1942–2024), Tanzanian economist, consultant and businessman * Mohammad Jafar Yahaghi (born 1947), Persian writer, literary critic, editor and translator * Sayed Jaafar Ahmed (born 1991), Bahraini footballer * Syed Jaafar Albar (1914–1977), Malaysian politician * Sayed Jafar Naderi (born 1965), ethnic Hazara-Ismaili who controlled Baghlan Province of Afghanistan during the early 1990s * Seyyed Jafar Kashfi, Iranian calligrapher

Surname or patronymic

Jafar * Adnan Jafar (born 1949), Iraqi footballer * Badr Jafar (born 1979), Emirati business executive * Habib Jafar (born 1966), Iraqi footballer * Izz al-Din Jafar, 14th-century Eretnid sultan * Jafar Dhia Jafar (born 1943), Iraqi nuclear physicist * Majid Jafar (born 1976), UAE businessman * Mustapha Ben Jafar (born 1940), Tunisian politician and doctor * Syed Jafar, Indian-American electrical engineer and computer scientist * Talha Jafar (1853–1936), Ethiopian-Argobba rebel and governor Jaafar * Abdul Aziz Jaafar (born 1956), retired Malaysian admiral * Azmun Jaafar (1958–2025), Indonesian civil servant and politician * Ghazali Jaafar (1944–2019), Filipino militant and government official * Hardi Jaafar (born 1979), Malaysian footballer * Isham Jaafar, Bruneian doctor * Jalaluddin Jaafar (born 1975), Malaysian footballer * Jasim Mohammed Jaafar, Iraqi politician * Jazeman Jaafar (born 1992), Malaysian car racer * Karrar Jaafar (born 2006), Iraqi footballer * Maha Jaafar (born 1994), Emirati dentist and YouTuber * Mariam Jaafar (born 1977), Singaporean politician * Megat Jaafar, Malaysian politician * Mujtaba Sayed Jaafar (born 1981), Qatari footballer * Naceur Ben Jaâfar (1923–1970), Tunisian politician and labor activist * Omar Jaafar, Malaysian politician * Onn Jaafar (1895–1962), Malay politician and a Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Johor in Malaysia, then Malaya * Raja Jaafar (born 1941), Raja Muda (crown prince) of Perak Darul Ridzuan * Suhaylah Abd-Jaafar (born 1964), Iraqi lawyer and activist * Tuanku Ja’afar (1922–2008), the tenth

Yang di-Pertuan Agong The King of Malaysia, officially ''Yang di-Pertuan Agong'' ( Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ), is the constitutional monarch and Figurehead, ceremonial head of state of Malaysia. The office was established in 1957, when the Federation of Malaya gained ...

(King) of

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

from 26 April 1994 until 25 April 1999 and the tenth

Yang Di-Pertuan Besar In Malay, Yang di-Pertuan Besar or Yamtuan Besar literally ''"He Who Is Made Chief Ruler"'', is a title given to the head of state in parts of the Malay Archipelago. In Malaysia * Also known as Yamtuan Besar, it is the title of the elected mon ...

(Ruler) of

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan''), historically spelled as Negri Sembilan, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia which lies on the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, wes ...

Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar Wan Junaidi bin Tuanku Jaafar (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , born 1 February 1946) is a Malaysian politician, lawyer and former senior police officer who is the eighth and current Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak. He previously served as the 19th Pre ...

(born 1946), Malaysian politician, lawyer and retired policeman Jaffar * Kamarudin Jaffar (born 1951), Malaysian politician *

Said Mohamed Jaffar Prince Said Mohamed Jaffar (), full name Said Mohamed Jaffar El Amjad, (April 14, 1918 in Comoros – October 22, 1993) was the second President of Comoros ''(État comorien)'' from 3 August 1975 until 3 January 1976, as well as chief minister o ...

(1918–1993), president of the State of Comoros Jaffer * Armaan Jaffer (born 1998), Indian cricketer * Jameel Jaffer (born 1971), Canadian human rights and civil liberties attorney * Melissa Jaffer (born 1936), Australian actress * Mobina Jaffer (born 1949), Canadian Senator * Murtz Jaffer, Canadian celebrity journalist * Rahim Jaffer (born 1971), Canadian politician * Sadaf Jaffer (born 1983), American politician and scholar * Sayed Mohammed Jaffer (born 1985), Bahraini footballer * Wasim Jaffer (born 1978), Indian cricketer Džaferović * Vanja Džaferović (born 1983), Croat-Bosnian footballer Gaafar * Ahmed Gaafar (born 1985), Egyptian footballer * Farouk Gaafar (born 1952), Egyptian footballer * Mostafa Gaafar (born 1981), Egyptian footballer

Xhaferi

Derived names

; Umm Ja'far * Zubaidah bint Ja'far, (765/66–831) also known as ''Umm Ja'far'' was an Arab

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

princess, wife of caliph

(r. 786–809) and mother of caliph

al-Amin Abū Mūsā Muḥammad bin Hārūn al-Amīn (; April 787 – 24/25 September 813), better known by just his laqab of al-Amīn (), was the sixth Abbasid caliph from 809 to 813. Al-Amin succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid, in 809 and ruled unt ...

( r. 809–813) * Umm Ja'far Shuja, (died 861) was the mother of Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil *

Shaghab Shaghab () (died 933) was the mother of the eighteenth Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir (), and wielded a considerable influence over state affairs during the reign of her son. She was commonly referred to only as Umm al-Muqtadir (mother of al-Muqtadir) ...

(died 933), also known as Umm Ja'far was the mother of 10th-century Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir

Fictional characters

*Jaffar, a character in ''The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940 film) ** Jafar (Aladdin), the main antagonist (inspired by the character in ''The Thief of Bagdad'') in the 1992 Disney animated film ''Aladdin'', its first sequel, ''The Return of Jafar'', and its 2019 live-action remake ***Jafar, one of the primary antagonists in '' Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'', based on the ''Aladdin'' character ***Ja'far, the main protagonist in the musical ''Twisted'', based on the ''Aladdin'' character **Jaffar, a character in ''

Prince of Persia ''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia. The first two ga ...

'', inspired by the character in ''The Thief of Bagdad'' *Jaffar, a character in the video game '' Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade'' *Ja'far, a character in the manga '' Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic'' *Zafar, a character in the television show '' Aladdin – Naam Toh Suna Hoga'' inspired from the character of the grand vizir in Disney's ''Aladdin''

References

{{Given name, type=both, Ja'far Arabic-language masculine given names Masculine given names Bosniak masculine given names