209 – “Whenever a man came to him bearing a name he disliked, he would change it.”

Al-Khallal cites it in Aṣḥāb Ibn Mandah (folio 153/2), saying: “Saʿīd ibn Yazīd al-Ḥimṣī informed us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf ibn Sufyān narrated to us; Abū al-Yamān narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh—from Ḍamḍam ibn Zurʿah—from Shurayḥ ibn ʿUbayd—who said that ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd al-Sulamī [reported it] attributed to the Prophet.”

I say: The chain is sound; all of its transmitters are trustworthy and well-known, except Saʿīd ibn Yazīd al-Ḥimṣī. It appears that he is Ibn Maʿyūf al-Ḥajwī, who is reliable, as stated in Mukhtaṣar Tārīkh Ibn ʿAsākir (6/179). As for Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, his narrations from the Syrians are authentic, as al-Bukhārī and others affirmed, and this report is from that category.

Al-Haythamī (8/52) remarked about the ḥadith: “It was transmitted by al-Ṭabarānī; its narrators are trustworthy, though there is some disagreement about a few of them.” I add: He is apparently referring to Ibn ʿAyyāsh, and you have already seen the reply.

Here are some of the names the Messenger of Allah ﷺ changed, according to authentic reports: Barra, ʿĀṣiyah, Ḥazn, Shihāb, and Juthāmah.

Below are a few aḥādīth on this matter:
“Do not commend yourselves, for Allah knows best which of you is righteous and which is wicked. Name her Zaynab.”

210 – “Do not commend yourselves, for Allah knows best which of you is righteous and which is wicked. Name her Zaynab.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (821) and Abū Dāwūd (4953) via Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, who said: “Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAṭāʾ related to me that he entered upon Zaynab bint Abī …"