Haydar (Arabic حيدر ) is one of many Arabic male given names for "lion", each denoting some aspect of the animal. Haider, Haidar, Hyder, Hydar and Heydar are variants of the transliteration. Among the people named so are:

‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib

‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Fourth Caliph and first Shi'a Imam. He is said to have been nicknamed Haydar by his mother for his shaggy head of hair and Haydar al-Karrār (Arabic حيدر الكرار) "Invincible Lion" by the Muslim warriors who followed him.

Hamzah

Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, uncle of Muhammad, was also called Asadu l-Lāh "Lion of God".

Nishan-E-Haider

A Pakistani military decoration. The medal is named after Ali ibn Abi Talib. To date, no living person has received the award. Following are the awardees of this prestigious award of outstanding bravery in Pakistani military history:

1- Captain Muhammad Sarwar (1910–July 27, 1948), 6/8 Punjab 2- Major Tufail Muhammad (1914–August 7, 1958), 1 Battlion East Bengal Regiment 3- Major Raja Aziz Bhatti (1928–September 10, 1965), 17 Punjab

4- Major Muhammad Akram (1938–1971), 4 FF

5- Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas (1951–August 20, 1971), PAF Training Squadron 6- Major Shabbir Sharif (1943–December 6, 1971), 6 FF

7- Jawan Sawar Muhammad Hussain (1949–December 10, 1971), 20 Lancers 8- Lance Naik Muhammad Mahfuz (1944–December 17, 1971), 15 Punjab 9- Captain Karnal Sher Khan (1970–July 5, 1999), 27 Sindh 10- Havaildar Lalak Jan (1967–July 7, 1999), 12 NLI.

Qutb ad-Dīn Haydar

It is the shortened version of the name of the Persian Sufi saint Qutb ad-Dīn Haydar, who died about 1221 CE/618 AH. Haydar - the Persian form of his name is Heydar - founded an order of mendicant dervishes known as the Haydariyya known for their celibacy and self-mortification through piercing their own bodies with iron rings.

Other

Other people named "Haydar" include:

• Heyder Ali (c. 1722–1782), ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore
• Nawab Ali Haider Khan (1900–1963), Indian politician
• Ali Haidar (1913–1999), Indian recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Heydar Aliyev (1923–2003), President of Azerbaijan
• Qurratulain Hyder (1927–2007), novelist writing in Urdu
• Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas (1939–), Prime Minister of Yemen
• Aminatou Haidar (1967–), Sahrawi human rights activist
• Haidar al-Abbadi, Iraqi Minister of Communications
• Haidar Abdel-Shafi, Palestinian leader

See also

• Islam