Inayat
- Gender
- Girl
- Say it
- i-NAH-yat
- Origin
- Arabic
- UK rank, 2025
- #914 for girls
- US rank, 2025
- #5,098 for girls
Inayat is a girls' name of Arabic origin, meaning “care, kindness, favour”. In 2025 it ranked 914th for girls in the UK (41 babies) and 5,098th for girls in the US (25 babies).
What does Inayat mean?
Arabic: form of Arabic inaya
“care, kindness, favour”
Noor Inayat Khan was a British SOE agent in occupied France, posthumously awarded the George Cross.
Is Inayat a girl's or a boy's name?
Inayat is a girls' name. In 2025, it was given to 41 girls in the UK and 25 girls in the US. Too few boys were given it to be listed.
How popular is Inayat in the UK?
- Rank in 2025
- 914th among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 41 about 1 in 6,800 girls
- Five-year trend
- Rising fast up 426% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 41 girls in the UK were named Inayat, making it the 914th most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 3,009th.
It has been given to more girls each year for the last 3 years. 2025 had the most girls named Inayat of any year since it first appeared, in 2008.
Half of all the girls named Inayat in the UK since 1996 were born between 2021 and 2025, the years shaded on the chart below.
In 2008, 36% of the babies named Inayat in the UK were girls. It has been given to more girls than boys since 2021.
Among girls in 2025, it was 863rd in England and Wales.
Inayat in the UK, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 41 | #914 |
| 2024 | 39 | #968 |
| 2023 | 20 | #1,611 |
| 2022 | 13 | #2,157 |
| 2021 | 15 | #1,981 |
| 2020 | 8 | #3,009 |
| 2019 | 6 | #3,738 |
| 2018 | 5 | #4,204 |
| 2017 | 3 | #5,998 |
| 2016 | 0 | – |
| 2015 | 0 | – |
| 2014 | 0 | – |
| 2013 | 0 | – |
| 2012 | 0 | – |
| 2011 | 1 | #7,717 |
| 2010 | 0 | – |
| 2009 | 3 | #5,801 |
| 2008 | 4 | #4,742 |
How popular is Inayat in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- 5,098th among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 25 about 1 in 64,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Rising fast up 100% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 25 girls in the US were named Inayat, making it the 5,098th most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 8,401st. It first appears in the records in 2014.
2025 had the most girls named Inayat of any year since it first appeared, in 2014.
Half of all the girls named Inayat in the US since 1880 were born between 2020 and 2024, the years shaded on the chart below.
Inayat in the US, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 25 | #5,098 |
| 2024 | 21 | #5,796 |
| 2023 | 16 | #6,917 |
| 2022 | 19 | #6,224 |
| 2021 | 17 | #6,686 |
| 2020 | 12 | #8,401 |
| 2019 | 13 | #8,134 |
| 2018 | 6 | #13,788 |
| 2017 | 5 | #15,898 |
| 2016 | 5 | #16,210 |
| 2015 | 0 | – |
| 2014 | 5 | #16,507 |
Names like Inayat
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Ayat, Rehmat, Nusaybah, Ibadat, Abeeha, Safa, Haniya, Ruqayyah, Aayat, Ayah, Aafiyah, Hayat
More Arabic names
Muhammad, Layla, Mohammed, Lyla, Mohammad, Zara, Aaliyah, Amir, Amira, Fatima, Ali, Yahya, Zayn, Aisha, Omar, Zahra
Sources
Figures from Baby names in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics), Babies' first names (National Records of Scotland), Baby names (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) and Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Inayat: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/inayat, updated 20 October 2026.