Sinan (Arabic: سنان sinān) is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning spearhead. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name.

Etymology

The word is possibly stems from the Arabic verb سَنَّ sanna, which means to "grind, sharpen, to make a point or dot". Another older meaning probably refer to "age", the length of time that a person has lived or a thing has existed, or the old age. Also, another meaning refers to "make a law/ legislation about something".

The general meaning is "sharpened point/ nib of the spear or lance(t)" which could possibly have a symbolic connotation representing a pointed arch, some referring to the niche of a mihrab, since the mihrab represent the "point, direction" of prayer to the Ka'abah in Islam. In a hadith narrated by Abu Juhaifa in Sahih al-Bukhari, "Once Allah's Messenger went to Al-Batha' at noon, performed the ablution and offered a two rak'at Zuhr prayer and a two-rak'at 'Asr prayer while a spearheaded stick was planted before him and the passersby were passing in front of it".

In another tradition, the battle standard of Muhammad, known in Turkish as Sancak-ı Şerif ("Holy Standard"), was believed to have served as the curtain over the entrance of his wife Aisha's tent, the standard had been part of the turban of Buraydah ibn al-Khasib, an enemy who was ordered to attack Muhammad, but instead bowed to him, unwound his turban and affixed it to his spear, dedicating it and himself to Muhammad's service.

In an Islamic interpretation of dreams, denotes the emblem of a religious man or a scholar, then it means innovation.

The name has been mostly used in Ottoman times, generally used as a common Turkish baby name.

Notable people with the name Sinan include:

Pre-20th century

• Sinon, warrior in Greek mythology who was involved in the Trojan Wars
• Sinān ibn al-Fatḥ (10th century), mathematician from Ḥarrān
• Mimar Sinan (1489–1588), chief architect and civil engineer for three Ottoman sultans
• Khaled bin Sinan, pre-Islamic prophet
• Sinan ibn Thabit, Sabian scholar and Abbasid court physician, father of Ibrahim ibn Sinan
• Ibrahim ibn Sinan (908–946), mathematician and astronomer in Baghdad
• Rashid ad-Din Sinan (died ca. 1193), known as "Old Man of the Mountain", one of the leaders of the Nizari Ismaili community in Syria
• Atik Sinan (fl. died 1471), "old Sinan", Ottoman architect

Post-19th century

• Hakan Karahan (born 1960), Turkish writer who uses pseudonym Sinan

See also

• Sinan (disambiguation)
• Synan