Possibly a short form of Ismail or from Arabic meaning safeguarding or protection.
Isma is an Arabic feminine name rooted in the concept of ʿiṣma (عصمة), meaning divine protection, infallibility, or preservation from sin. In Islamic theology, ʿiṣma is the technical term for the quality of moral protection granted to prophets, making the name carry profound spiritual resonance within Muslim communities. It is found across the Arabic-speaking world, in South Asia, and in Swahili-influenced East Africa, often as a standalone name or as a shortened form of longer names like Ismahan or Ismahen — a compound that fuses the root with the Arabic word for "beautiful."
Ismahan (also written Asmahan) was one of the most celebrated singers and actresses of the Arab world in the 1930s and 1940s. Born Princess Amal al-Atrash in Syria, she was known by the stage name Asmahan and possessed a voice that rivaled the great Umm Kulthum. Her brief, dramatic life — she died at twenty-six in a Cairo car accident — became the stuff of legend, and names in her orbit carry echoes of that golden age of Arabic culture.
As a standalone name, Isma has a spare, lyrical quality — two syllables, three letters in its Arabic form — that gives it an almost modernist minimalism. In contemporary usage it appeals to parents who want a name that is at once spiritually grounded, culturally specific, and beautifully concise. The name crosses borders with ease, pronounceable and memorable to speakers of many languages while remaining unmistakably rooted in its Arabic heritage.