A variant of Fatimah, from Arabic, commonly interpreted as one who abstains or weans.
Fatema is a variant spelling of Fatima (فَاطِمَة in Arabic), one of the most revered names in the Islamic world. The name derives from the Arabic root f-t-m, meaning "to wean" or "to abstain," with the full name understood to mean "one who abstains" or, in some interpretations, "captivating" or "one who weans others from evil." Its preeminence in Muslim tradition stems from its most famous bearer: Fatima al-Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and Khadijah, and the wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib.
She is venerated across both Sunni and Shia Islam as a model of piety, strength, and spiritual grace. The spelling Fatema is particularly associated with South Asian Muslim communities — especially in Bangladesh, India (particularly West Bengal), and among the diaspora from those regions — where the name has been rendered in this form for generations following local phonetic and orthographic conventions. It is a name that functions simultaneously as devotion, identity, and cultural heritage, connecting a child not only to the Prophet's family but to a specific geographic and communal tradition of faith.
Fatema has been borne by scholars, poets, political leaders, and activists across the Muslim world. In contemporary usage it remains among the most popular names for girls in Muslim-majority countries, reflecting an unbroken chain of veneration stretching fourteen centuries. The name carries an unusual combination of qualities: it is at once deeply traditional and timelessly contemporary, specific to a religious tradition yet recognizable and respected across cultures. To name a daughter Fatema is to place her within one of history's longest and most continuous naming traditions.