Hamida Omarova (Azerbaijani: Həmidə Ömərova) was born to a family of teachers, Mammad and Nasiba Omarov. Her parents met at university where both of them studied foreign languages, and went on to have four children, three of whom died in their infancy. When Hamida was born, her parents visited the Sufi Hamid shrine in Qazakh and after being sure the newborn would survive, they named her after the sanctuary. Following her parents' divorce in 1960 and her father's permanent departure to his native Gazakh, Hamida Omarova was raised by her mother and grandmother. After graduating from high school she enrolled at Baku State University to study philology. While finishing her first year in 1975, she entered an academic contest along with other 300 people and was among the 15 contestants who were admitted to the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow.