Naming the newborn child
21-3-2005 | IslamWeb
Question:
How we give a name to newborn baby boy and girl as per Islam? Is it any calculation with date of birth of baby if is it, then tell me in detail how we do that. Waiting for your prompt reply.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
We have previously issued many Fataawa about naming newborn children, so you may refer to Fataawa: 88553and 82724.
As regards whether or not the date of birth of the child should be taken into account when naming him, then the answer is that the naming is done on the 'Aqeeqah day (i.e. the slaughtering done for a new born) which is on the seventh day as the Prophet 
said: "Every child bonds to his/her 'Aqeeqah, (i.e. his dutifulness to parents and him being protected by Allaah and blessed is subject to his parents slaughtering) which should be done on the seventh day (after the birth), and on that day he (she) should be named and his (her) hair should be shaved off." [Ahmad]
If the baby is born during the night, then the day that follows is counted without any difference of opinion among the scholars
. For instance, if the baby was born on Thursday night then the first day of the seven days is Friday, so the naming and 'Aqeeqah should be on the following Thursday.
However, if the baby was born during the day, the majority of scholars are of the view that the day he/she is born is counted among the seven days, for instance if the baby was born on Thursday during day time, then the 'Aqeeqah and the naming should be on the following Wednesday.
Finally, it should be noted that it is permissible to name the baby on the same day of his birth as the Prophet said: "Tonight a son was born to me and I named him after my father's name, Ibraaheem." [Muslim] So he named the child on the same day he was born.
Allaah knows best.