Muhammad, Most Popular Name in Britain
Figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that the name of the Prophet (PBUH) has beaten Oliver as the most popular name chosen by parents over the past year, Breitbart London reported on Friday, August 15.
Though the announced results put Oliver at the top of the list with 6,949 times, the statistics put the different variation of the spelling of the Prophet name in different entries at leading positions in the list.
This means that "Muhammad" came in 15th with 3,499 children but "Mohammed" was 23rd with 2,887 and "Muhammad" was 57th with 1059 given the name.
As a result the top three spellings alone accounted for the names of 7,445 boys, easily beating the second most popular name Oliver easily.
News that Mohammed is the most popular boys name in Britain was first exclusively reported on Breitbart London following a leak at the ONS last week.
At the time, Mohammed was already the most popular boys name in London by some considerable margin.
The estimates showed that the Muslim name was the most multi-cultural London and the West Midlands, while Oliver came out top in the South East, South West and Wales.
Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2.7 million, mainly from Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin.
The name of Mohammed has grown in popularity in recent years.
In 2009, the name of the Prophet became the most popular name for newborn babies in England and Wales.
Mohamed came third as the most popular name in Britain in 2008.
Source: On Islam
