Afra (Name)

Afra (transliteration: ʿAfrāʾ, Arabic: عفراء) is an Arabic name for girls that means “a white color that is not too white”¹, “a white color that has a very light red shade”², originally meaning “colored like dust”³. Afra is also a nickname for the 13th night of the lunar month.⁴ When used to describe an animal, it means an animal that is white without patches of other colors.⁵

Afra may also be spelled as Afraa, Afra’, Aphra and Efra.

There are two Companions of the Prophet Muhammad named Afra:

• Afra bint al-Sakan عفراء بنت السكن
• Afra bint Ubaid عفراء بنت عبيد

Below is the name Afra written in Arabic naskh script:

Below is the name Afra written in Arabic kufi script:

1. Ghareeb al-Hadeeth by Abu Ubaid al-Qaasim bin Salam al-Harawi (d. 838 CE), entry for عفر.
2. Al-Mu`jam al-Waseet by a Team of Writers (1998), entry forعفر.
3. Ibid.
4. Al-Muheet fil Lughah by al-Sahib bin Abbad (d. c. 995 CE), entry forعفر.
5. Al-Muhkam wal Muheet al-Aadham by Ibn Seedah al-Mursi (d. 1066 CE), entry for عفر.