hawa

Hawa is a female given name and a word with multiple meanings across languages. In Arabic, Hawāʾ (حَواء) is the name of Eve, the first woman in Islamic tradition. The name is widely used among Arabic-speaking and Muslim communities and is commonly transliterated as Hawa, Hawaa, or Hawwa. In many East African and South Asian contexts, the name is used independently as a given name, often carrying the association with Eve.

In Hindustani languages such as Hindi and Urdu, hawa (हवा/ہوا) means wind or air. This is a separate lexical sense from the personal name, though the two overlap in transliteration and usage in literature and conversation. The word and the name appear in various cultural references, including architecture such as Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds in Jaipur, whose name literally means "palace of winds."

Notable people with the given name include women in Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent; the name is also used in fiction and media. Hawa thus functions as both a personal name with religious and historical associations and a common noun in several languages.