Boys called Muhammad, Mohammed, and Mohammad

The Office for National Statistics earlier this week released data on the most popular baby names in England and Wales in 2014.

The data revealed that on the national list Muhammad was the 14^th most popular boys’ name in England and Wales (3,588) and the top boys’ name in London (830).

But combining the various spellings of the name, Muhammad (3588), Mohammed (2536) and Mohammad (1116), the name is actually more popular than the highest ranking boys’ name on the national list, Oliver (6649).

The spelling of the name Muhammad rose from position 19 in the table in 2012 to position 14 in 2014.

In England and Wales, the combined spellings of the name were in second position in 2012, behind Harry and Oliver.

The popularity of the Muslim name has not been lost in some sections of the press. In 2010, when the figures on baby names in 2009 were released, Damian Thompson on Telegraph blogs wrote: “Muslims throughout the world are adopting a “purer”, Salafi-influenced form of Islam, thanks to gargantuan Saudi investment in fundamentalist mosques and community schemes…With every passing year, primary school children – Muslim and non-Muslim – eat more local authority-funded Halal food and hear more about the original Mohammed. The fact that so many of the boys now have the same name must make life difficult for their teachers; and in the long run I don’t doubt that it will make life difficult for the rest of us.”