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Jaʽfar

Name list

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
6 min read
Source updated September 13, 2026

Jaʽfar (Arabic: جَعْفَر), meaning in Arabic "stream", is a masculine name of Arabic origin, common among Middle Eastern and Muslim men, especially in Iran.

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 Džafer, in Kyrgyz Japar, in Kazakh Zhapar, and in Albanian Xhafer.

01Historical persons

02Modern persons

Given name

Jafar

Jaafar

Ja'far

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

Cafer

Džafer

  • Džafer Kulenović (1891-1956), Yugoslav politician who led the Yugoslav Muslim Organization in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and was briefly government minister

Gaafar

Xhafer

Middle name

Surname or patronymic

Jafar

Jaafar

Jaffar

Jaffer

Džaferović

Gaafar

Xhaferi

03Derived names

Umm Ja'far

04Fictional 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, 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
Watch videos about JaʽfarExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Jaʽfar”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Zubaidah bint Ja'far

Zubaidah bint Ja`far ibn al-Mansur (died 26 Jumada I 216 AH / 10 July 831 CE) was the best known of the Abbasid princesses, and the wife and double cousin of Harun al-Rashid. She is particularly remembered for the series of wells, reservoirs and artificial pools that provided water for Muslim pilgrims along the route from Baghdad to Mecca and Medina, which was renamed the Darb Zubaidah in her honor.

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