ibn

Ibn is an Arabic term meaning "son of" that appears in personal names across the Arabic-speaking world and in many Muslim cultures. It is used to indicate lineage or patronymics, tracing a person to their father or an ancestor.

In Arabic, ibn is written as ابن and pronounced with a short i and a hard b. In transliteration, it's commonly capitalized as Ibn in Western texts, though lowercase ibn is also used. The variant bin appears in some languages and transliterations, and both forms serve the same patronymic function, as in Ibn Sina or bin Yunus. The feminine form is bint, meaning "daughter of."

In historical and religious naming, Ibn precedes the father's given name and is part of the full honorific or nisba; the modern family name may follow later. The use of Ibn is not a family surname but a patronymic or affiliation indicator. Notable examples include Ibn Battuta (the traveler), Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and Ibn Khaldun (the historian).

This naming practice reflects broader patterns in Arab and Islamic naming, where lineage and tribal or geographical associations are important. It is also encountered in literature and scholarship to identify a person by ancestry. The term is distinct from but related to kunya (a teknonym) and from bint (daughter of).