Evidence record · given name

Meaning and use are separate questions.

Lexical evidence: Platts associates the lexical form ʻalī with high rank, eminence and nobility and records proper-name use. Individual naming intentions remain unestablished.

Documented use: Ali is an element of the recorded name Ali Hujwiri in Punjab’s shrine authority account.

Selecting the correct dictionary entry

Platts’s 1884 dictionary records ʻalī on page 764 with adjective meanings associated with high rank, eminence and nobility. It also records the form as a proper name. The dictionary places it within Arabic-derived vocabulary. These are lexical associations supported by an identified entry; they do not establish a single intended meaning for every person whose English-recorded name is Ali.[1]

The same page records a separate entry romanized ʻalā, used in Arabic phrases. That neighbouring entry is a useful caution: visually similar source forms and simplified English spellings can conceal distinct pronunciations and grammatical functions. This article uses the ʻalī entry for its lexical discussion and does not absorb the separate prepositional entry or its compounds into a personal-name definition.[1]

Ali Hujwiri and Data Darbar

Punjab’s Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department presents the Lahore shrine commonly called Data Darbar under the name of Data Ganj Bakhsh. Its account also gives the forms Abu ’l Hasan Ali b. Uthman and Ali Hujwiri. The same subject is therefore identified through a personal-name sequence, another recorded form and a devotional designation. Treating all three as unrelated people would break the connection that the institutional account makes explicit.[2]

The department identifies him as an eleventh-century mystic associated with the Persian work Kashf al-mahjub and with Lahore. These details explain why the name appears in a Punjabi historical resource even though its lexical background and the subject’s life extend beyond Punjab. A regional connection is established through the shrine and the recorded career; it does not make the word exclusively Punjabi.[2]

Vocabulary, commemoration and personal intention

The historical dictionary documents an adjective and proper-name use, rather than a record of one family choosing a name. Its lexical association can be stated, while an individual naming intention remains unknown.[1]

The shrine authority’s account instead documents the identification and commemoration of one historical figure. It does not make another living bearer named Ali a relative or establish that bearer’s ancestry or religious practice.[2]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. John Thompson Platts. A Dictionary of Urdū, Classical Hindī, and English: ʻalī; separate ʻalā ↗original historical dictionary entry · Source date: 1884 work; consulted Sampson Low impression undated · Locator: Printed 764; scan part 2, PDF 160; ʻalī; separate ʻalā. Accessed 2026-11-02.Selected printed entry and relevant original corrections inspected. First-edition text; consulted impression is undated. Modern search interfaces and personal naming intentions are outside this lexical scope.Return to Selecting the correct dictionary entry, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Selecting the correct dictionary entry, paragraph 2 ↑Return to Vocabulary, commemoration and personal intention, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department, Government of Punjab. Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh RA Lahore ↗shrine authority account · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Opening identification, recorded names, Persian work and Lahore association. Accessed 2026-10-31.Inspected the authority’s account as evidence of names and commemorative context. Genealogical claims, visitor superlatives and uncertain lifespan details are not adopted.Return to Ali Hujwiri and Data Darbar, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Ali Hujwiri and Data Darbar, paragraph 2 ↑Return to Vocabulary, commemoration and personal intention, paragraph 2 ↑
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Record PH-NAM-0118 · English edition · human review not performed