Fatima is an Arabic name usually explained as "one who abstains" or "weaning", from the verb fatama. It was the name of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter and is beloved across the Muslim world, while the Portuguese town of Fatima and its Marian apparitions of 1917 made it a Catholic name as well. Fatima is remarkably stable in the United States: number 242 in 2000, a peak of 227 in 2001 and 330th place among girls' names in 2025.