Depending on locality and supply, hookahs may be referred to by many names, often of Arabic, Indian, Turkie, or Persian origin. Narghilè is the name most commonly used in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Albania, Bosnia, Greece, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bulgaria, although the initial "n" is often dropped in Arabic pronunciation. Narghile derives from the Persian word nārgil (نارگیل), meaning coconut, and in turn from the Sanskrit nārikela (नारिकेला), suggesting that early hookahs were hewn from coconut shells.[2]

Shisha (Arabic: شيشة‎), from the Persian word shīshe (شیشه), meaning glass, is the common term for the hookah in Egypt and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf (including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, UAE, and Saudi Arabia), and in Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Somalia and Yemen.

In Iran, hookah is called ghalyūn (غلیون pronounced as "Ghelyoon"). In India and Pakistan the name most similar to the English hookah is used: huqqa (हुक्का /حقہ). The terms "hubble-bubble" and "hubbly-bubbly" are also used.

The commonness of the Indian word "hookah" in English is a result of the British Raj, the British dominion of India (1858–1947), when large numbers of expatriate Britons first sampled the water-pipe. William Hickey, shortly after arriving in Kolkata, India, in 1775, wrote in his Memoirs: