Saif and Kareena Name Son Taimur Ali Khan; Here’s What it Means

Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan were blessed with the ‘sabse chota nawab’ on Tuesday morning.

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor have named their child Taimur Ali Khan. (Photo: Rahul Gupta/The Quint)

If you thought Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor would name their baby something along the lines of Saifeena, then you were wrong.

The sabse chote nawab is called Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi. Taimur or Taimoor in Arabic means ‘iron’. The lucky number associated with the name is eight.

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor have named their child Taimur Ali Khan. (Photo: Rahul Gupta/The Quint)

The name brings to mind the 14th century Turko-Mongol military leader Timur, also known as Tamerlane. Tamerlane is the European derivation of Timur’s Persian nickname, Timur-e Lang, which means ‘Timur the Lame.’ Notorious for being a ruthless plunderer, Timur was left crippled by injuries to his right leg and right hand. 

• Born in 1336, in a region now known as Uzbekistan, Timur was considered one of the strongest Muslim rulers of his time
  
• Timur, who referred to himself as the ‘Sword of Islam’, converted people in the Mongol region to Islam
  
• An estimated 17 million people – around 5 percent of the world’s population at the time – were killed during Timur’s military campaigns
  
• Babur, the first Mughal king, is one of his descendants
  
• In 1398, Timur defeated the ruling Tughlaq of Delhi and left the city in ruins. It is said that Delhi took a century to recover from his plundering
  
• While he is vilified in Delhi, Timur is hailed as a hero in Central Asia. In Europe, however, he draws mixed reactions, with many hailing his defeat of the Ottoman empire
  

Considering the legacy that now rests on little Taimur’s shoulders, we’re pretty sure that Saif and Kareena didn’t have the name’s dark history in mind while naming the boy.