MEANING & HISTORY
What does Basmala mean?
Basmala names the Arabic invocation beginning bismi llāh, in the name of God. Academic and dictionary accounts identify a whole devotional formula rather than an ordinary adjective meaning smile or beauty.
Its documented use as a personal name can be described alongside that religious-word history without assuming the intentions of every family.
Pronunciation & syllables
A dictionary pronunciation or syllable division has not been verified for this exact spelling. Use the synthetic reading as a starting point and confirm the intended pronunciation with the family.
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
2
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗THE RECORDED SPELLING
Find Basmala in the sources
Public-record evidence
OpenHalalan · COMELEC · 2001
Given-name field in the source
BASMALACSV record 287 (header counted as record 1)
The source transcribes elected-candidate lists. The record number locates the quoted given-name field.
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Basmala in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Basmala
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Barbara♀Foreign or unfamiliar
- Basil♂Royal or kingly
- Basilia♀Feminine Basil-name form; royal
- Bassar·Historical Maltese form interpreted through Arabic Bashshar
- Baginda·As a Malay word: royal third-person honorific
- Baltazar·Bel, protect the king
- Banaag·Glimmer; faint light, as word senses
- Banban♂♀Repeated familiar form with several recorded parents
What rhymes with Basmala?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Basmala further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Cambridge Dictionary — basmala (opens in a new tab)
Exact lexical term for the Islamic invocation beginning Bismillah; supplies formula sense rather than personal naming intention.
- Karin Almbladh — The Basmala in Medieval Letters in Arabic Written by Jews and Christians (opens in a new tab)
Academic study identifies the Arabic formula and its historical correspondence contexts; no claim that every bearer has a particular religious identity.