Some researchers say the name of Karbala means (close to God) and it is of an old Babylonian origin, some think that the meaning of Karbala is the Babylonian word (Kor Babil) which means (old Babylonian towns), some of these towns are (Nainawa, Ghadiryia, Karbala, Aker babil, Nawaweess and Heerr) which is called nowadays Hair (means in Arabic the land which refuse the water to enter it) when al-Mutawakil al-Abassi ordered to drive the water to the holy grave to destroy it, the water stopped and did not harm the holy grave.

The word Karbala's origin is thought of as a two syllable Assyrian word ,the first syllable is (Karb) meaning (sanctuary) and (ala) meaning (God), the two syllables form the word(God's sanctuary), other historians believe the origin may be Persian formed from the word Karr meaning work and bala meaning higher,(Tuf) is one of the city's names, perhaps the name (Karbala) is derived from the Arabic word (Kurba) meaning soft earth for Karbala has plain lands which made it easy for different kinds of planting, the word (Karbal) also means a kind of fruit , probably it was named after it.