Muhammad is No 2 in boy's names

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Muhammad is No 2 in boy's names

By Helen Nugent and Nadia Menuhin

Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most
popular name for baby boys in Britain and is
likely to rise to No 1 by next year, a study by
The Times has found. The name, if all 14 different
spellings are included, was shared by 5,991
newborn boys last year, beating Thomas into third
place, followed by Joshua and Oliver.

Scholars said that the name’s rise up the league
table was driven partly by the growing number of
young Muslims having families, coupled with the
desire to name their child in honour of the
Prophet.

Muhammad Anwar, Professor of Ethnic Relations at
Warwick University, said: "Muslim parents like to
have something that shows a link with their
religion or with the Prophet."

Although the official names register places the
spelling Mohammed at No 23, an analysis of the top
3,000 names provided by the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) puts Muhammad at No 2 once the 14
spellings are taken into account. If its
popularity continues -- it rose by 12 per cent
last year -- the name will take the top spot by
the end of this year. It first entered the Top 30
in 2000.

The spelling Muhammad, like all transliterations,
comes from replacing the Arabic script with what
is deemed its closest Latin equivalent. There are
many versions in Britain, depending on where the
family are from and variations in pronounciation.

Muhammad, which means "one who is praiseworthy" ,
is often given to boys as an honorary prefix and
is followed by the name by which they are commonly
known. It is regularly cited as the most common
name in the world, though there is no concrete
evidence.

Mufti Abdul Barkatullah, a former imam at the
Finchley mosque in northwest London, said:
"Parents who name their son Muhammad believe that
the name has an effect on their personality and
future characteristics. They are saying that this
boy will be of good character.

"Some people may not really understand the history
of the Prophet Muhammad and the name but they
still want the association so they can be
recognised as one of his followers.

"In Arab countries, the name Muhammad is said when
you don’t know the name of someone. On the
sub-continent, it is different: Muhammad can be
used either before or after another name.

"When you get to the UK, it is essentially about
translating the sound of the Arabic into English.
A nonArab Muslim would have the name ending in -ed
while an Arab Muslim would adopt the -ad ending."

Overall, Muslims account for 3 per cent of the
British population, about 1.5 million people.
However, the Muslim birthrate is roughly three
times higher than the nonMuslim one.

Statistics from the ONS show that Muslim
households are larger than those headed by someone
of another religion. In 2001, the average size of
a Muslim household was 3.8 people while a third
contained more than five people.

According to data from CACI Information Solutions,
men who are named Muhammad are 5½ times more
likely to go on holiday in Asia and twice as
likely to live in Yorkshire than most other
people.

Additionally, a man named Muhammad is most likely
to be aged between 25 and 34 and to have an
average salary of £25,000.

The leading name for girls born to Muslim parents
in 2006 was Aisha, in 110th place. Its meaning is
"wife of the Prophet" or "life".

How do you spell that?

The different spellings of Muhammad in 2006 and
the number of occurrences

Mohammed 2,833
Muhammad 1,422
Mohammad 920
Muhammed 358
Mohamed 354
Mohamad 29
Mahammed 18
Mohammod 13
Mahamed 12
Muhammod 9
Muhamad 7
Mohmmed 6
Mohamud 5
Mohammud 5

- Scholars and imams differ on why there are so
many variants of the name

- Some say it is the result of phonetic
translations by Muslims who moved here from
abroad. Others say that it is merely down to the
personal choice of the parents

The most popular names for baby boys in 2006

1 Jack 6,928, 2 Muhammad (all spellings) 5,991, 3
Thomas 5,921, 4 Joshua 5,808, 5 Oliver 5,208, 6
Harry 5,006, 7 James 4,783, 8 William 4,327, 9
Samuel 4,320, 10 Daniel 4,303, 11 Charlie 4,178,
12 Benjamin 3,778, 13 Joseph 3,755, 14 Callum
3,517, 15 George 3,386, 16 Jake 3,353, 17 Alfie
3,194, 18 Luke 3,108,19 Matthew 3,043, 20 Ethan
3,020

Source: Office for National Statistics/ The Times