Meaning: Its source is an Arabic expression meaning "Baby's nurse."

Languages: This girl's name is used in Arabic, English, Portuguese, Spanish and Urdu.

Alternative Spellings: Fatimah

Popularity: The name Fatima ranked 239th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics and 1078th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

Narrative: Another interpretation of Fatima is ''abstainer from forbidden things.'' This is not a competing theory on the name's meaning, but an additional dimension to the meaning ''baby nurse.''

In Islam, Fatima was the Prophet's daughter, and wife to Ali. The Fatamid dynasty of Shiite caliphs, which governed from the 10th to the 12th century, claimed her as their ancestor.

Because Fatima was the only of Muhammad's children to bear offspring, she is sometimes referred to as ''the mother of all Muslims.''

In 1917, three Christian children in Fatima, Portugal reported a miraculous vision of the Virgin Mother of Jesus. As a result, this name is sometimes used by Christians in honor of ''Our Lady of Fatima.''