Banu is a Persian name for girls used in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

. While in Iran it translates to "lady", "princess" or "bride". in India, and Nepal it roughly translates to "little sister". In Turkey, it is a popular female name that refers to the languageal Persian word. Banu also apparently means "rays from the sun" in Telugu.

Notable figures, people, and institutions named Banu include:

• Arjumand Banu Begum, Shah Jahan
  Shah Jahan
  Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
  
  's wife, for whom he built Taj Mahal
  Taj Mahal
  The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
  
  
• Banu-yi Mısr (literally, Banu of Egypt
  Egypt
  Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
  
  ), another name for Zulaikha, Potiphar
  Potiphar
  Potiphar or Potifar is a person in the Book of Genesis's account of Joseph. Potiphar is said to be the captain of the palace guard and is referred to without name in the Quran. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar as a household slave...
  
  's wife
• Shahrbanu
  Shahrbanu
  Shahrbānū , is a personage described to have been one of the daughters of Yazdegerd III, the last Emperor of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia/Iran...
  
  , eldest daughter of Yazdegerd III, the last Emperor of Sassanid Persia and mother of the fourth Shiite imam, Ali ibn Husayn
• Bannu
  Bannu
  Bannu is the principal city of the Bannu District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It is an important road junction and market city. Bannu is a very old city, founded in ancient times; however, the present location of the downtown Bannu was founded by Sir Herbert Edwardes in 1848,...
  
  , a city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
• Banu, a village in Dumeşti
  Dumesti, Iasi
  Dumeşti is a commune in Iaşi County, Romania. It is composed of five villages: Banu, Chilişoaia, Dumeşti, Hoiseşti and Păuşeşti.-References:...
  
   Commune, Iaşi County
  Iasi County
  Iași is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași.-Demographics:As of 1 July 2007, Iași County had a population of 825,100, making it the second most populous county in Romania after Bucharest, with a population density of 150/km².*Romanians - 98.1%*Roma -...
  
  , Romania
  Romania
  Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
  
  
• The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union
  Bulgarian Agrarian National Union
  Bulgarian Agrarian National Union also tiranslated to English as Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union is a political party devoted to representing the causes of the Bulgarian peasantry. It was most powerful between 1900 and 1923. In practice, it was an agrarian movement...
  
  
• Banu, a software development company based in London, United Kingdom
• Saira Banu
  Saira Banu
  Saira Banu , also known as Saira Bano, is an Indian Bollywood actress and the wife of the film actor Dilip Kumar. She acted in many Bollywood films between 1960 and 1980.-Early life:...
  
  , a Bollywood
  Bollywood
  Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
  
   actress of the 1960s
• Shah Bano
• Banu Priya, an actress from south India
• Banu, a south Indian film actress introduced in the film Thamiraparani