ayn

Ayn is a term used in several linguistic and onomastic contexts. It commonly appears as the name of a letter in Semitic writing systems and as a given name in various cultures. The most prominent uses are as a transliteration of a letter in Hebrew and Arabic, and as a personal name.

As a letter, Ayn (often spelled Ayin or Ain) designates a consonant that appears in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic scripts. In Hebrew, Ayin is the 16th letter of the alphabet; its pronunciation in modern Hebrew is often a glottal stop or is silent, with regional variations. In Arabic, the letter ‘Ayn’ (ع) represents a voiced pharyngeal consonant and is one of the core consonants of the script, typically transliterated as "Ayn" or "Ain." The letter is embedded in many words and names across the Arabic-speaking world.

Ayn also means “eye” in Arabic, where the word ayn appears in everyday speech as well as in idiomatic expressions and place names. The term has cultural resonance in poetry, calligraphy, and naming traditions.

As a given name, Ayn has appeared in various cultures and languages. The best-known bearer is Ayn Rand (1905–1982), the Russian-born American writer and philosopher who developed the philosophy of Objectivism and authored works such as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. The name continues to be used in different contexts, sometimes as a shortened form of longer names or as a distinctive standalone name.