Ghulam (Arabic: غلام, ALA-LC: ghulām) is an Arabic word meaning servant, assistant, boy, or youth. It is used to describe young servants in Jannah. It is also used to refer to slave-soldiers in the Abbasid, Ottoman, Safavid and to a lesser extent, Mughal Empires, though more commonly with the word Ghilman, which is the plural form of ghulam.
It is traditionally used as the first element of compounded Muslim male given names, meaning servant of ..., mostly in Persian (where it is pronounced Gholâm) and in Urdu. In both Persian and Urdu, the particle al- is not used with ghulam (unlike compounds formed with ʿabd; e.g. Gholammohammad, Gholamhoseyn, Gholamali... and Abd al-Muhammad, Abd al-Husayn, Abd al-Ali...). Since the 20th century, Ghulam has also been used as an independent given name and surname.
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People with the given name (not in compound)
Mohammad Golam Shahi Alam (born 1952), Bangladeshi academic and surgeon
Golam Ambia (born 1966), Bangladeshi sprinter
Ghulam Bombaywala, Pakistani-American restaurateur
Golam Mabud Chowdhury (born 1984), Bangladeshi cricketer
Golam Wahed Choudhury (1926–1997), Bangladeshi diplomat and political scientist
Golam Habib Dulal (born 1943), Bangladeshi politician
Mirza Ghulam Hafiz (1920–2000), Bangladeshi statesman and philanthropist
Golam Hasnayen (1929–2021), Bangladeshi lawyer and activist
Golam Kabir (academic), vice-chancellor of Sheikh Hasina University
Golam Helal Morshed Khan (born 1948), Bangladeshi major general
R. A. M. Golam Muktadir (died 2020), former Director General of Bangladesh Rifles
Ghulam Murshid (1940–2024), Bangladeshi author, scholar and journalist
A. F. Golam Osmani (1933–2009), Indo-Bengali politician
Mia Golam Parwar (born 1959), Bangladeshi politician
Arbab Ghulam Rahim (born 1957), Pakistani politician
Ghulam Raziq (1932–1989), Pakistani hurdler
Golam Shabbir Sattar (born 1962), Bangladeshi vice-chancellor of the University of Rajshahi
Ghulam Arieff Tipoo (1931–2024), Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal
Golam Sabur Tulu (1953–2013), Bangladeshi politician
Ghulam Yazdani (1885–1962), Hyderabadi archaeologist
Golam Yazdani (1917–2009), former cabinet minister of West Bengal
People with the surname
Nabil Gholam (born 1962), Lebanese architect
Jassim Ghulam Al-Hamd (born 1979), Iraqi footballer
Ali Gholam (born 1981), Iranian footballer
Saleem Golam, Mauritian jockey
Kamran Ghulam, Pakistani cricketer
List of compounded given names with first part Ghulam
Ghulam Abbas
Ghulam Ahmad, also Ghulam Ahmed
Ghulam Akbar
Ghulam Ali
Ghulam Azam (1922–2014), Bangladeshi politician
Ghulam Dastagir
Ghulam Farid
Ghulam Faruq
Ghulam Ghawth
Ghulam Hassan
Ghulam Haider
Ghulam Hussain also Gholam Hossein etc.
Ghulam Ishaq, notably borne by
Ghulam Ishaq Khan (1915–2006), President of Pakistan
Ghulam Jilani
Ghulam Kibria
Ghulam Mansur, notably borne by
Ghulam Mansoor (1812-??), Subedar-Major at Bhopal State in 1867
Ghulam Mohammad, also Ghulam Mohammed, Ghulam Muhammad etc., notably borne by
Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (1878–1960), Pakistani wrestler known as "The Great Gama"
Ghulam Masih, notably borne by
Golam Moshi, Bangladeshi diplomat