Muhammad (name)

The name Muḥammad is the strictest and primary transliteration of the Arabic given name, محمد, that comes from the Arabic passive participle of ḥammada (حَمَّدَ), praise, and further from triconsonantal Semitic root Ḥ-M-D (praise); hence praised, or praiseworthy. However, its actual pronunciation differs colloquially, for example, in Egyptian Arabic: IPA: [mæˈħæmːæd], while in exclusively religious contexts, talking about Islam: IPA: [moˈħæmːæd].

The name has one of the highest numbers of English spelling variants in the world.[3] Other Arabic names from the same root include Mahmud, Ahmed, Hamed, Tahmid and Hamid.

The name may be abbreviated to Md., Mohd., Muhd., Mhd., or simply M. because of its utmost meaning, its popularity has meant that it can become hard to distinguish people when there is a multitude with the same name. In some cases it may be to keep a personal name less tied to a religious context. This is only done if the person has a second given name. Some men who have Muhammad (or variant) as a first name choose not to use it, as it is such a common name. Instead they use another given name. For example, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak, Siad Barre, Zia-ul-Haq, Ayub Khan and Nawaz Sharif use their second given name.

According to the sixth edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia (2000), Muhammad is probably the most common given name in the world, including variations.[4] It is estimated that more than 150 million men and boys in the world bear the name Muhammad due to its relationship to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[5]

It is sometimes reported that Muhammad is the most popular boy’s name in all of Britain; however, this is based on combining multiple spelling variations such as Mohammed, but not combining spelling variants of popular British names such as Ollie and Olly.[6] Based on statistics for the 100 most popular boys' names in England and Wales, the combined count for Muhammad and Mohammed (6233) was higher than Oliver and Olly (6049), but lower than the combined count for Harry and Henry (7684). [7]

Mohammed and Mohamed were the most popular baby name in département Seine-Saint-Denis (2002, 2008)[8] and in Marseilles (2007, 2009), France.[9] Similarly, since 2008 it has been the most popular baby boy name in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium's most Muslim-populated cities.[10]

In May 2006, it was reported that statistics indicate that some 8,928 Danish Muslims carry the name Muhammad and that in 2004 alone, 167 new-born babies were registered.[11]

In 2009 Mohamed, the most common spelling variant, was ranked 430th in the US.[12] According to the Social Security Administration, Mohammad was ranked 589th, Mohammed 633rd, and Muhammad the 639th most popular first name for newborns in 2006.[13] In the 1990 United States census, the Muhammad variant of the spelling was ranked 4,194 out of 88,799 for people of all ages.[14][15]

In April 2017, the Chinese government prohibited parents from choosing the name Muhammad as the given name for a child. The list included more than two dozen names and was targeted at the 10 million Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang.[16]

If all variants of Muhammad are counted, there are 14,646 people in Finland named Muhammad. The most common spelling is Mohamed, accounting for 39% of the Muhammad name carriers.[17]

• Muhammad Ali
• Mohammad-Reza
• Mohammad Taqi (disambiguation), several people

• Ahmad
• Ma, surname used by some Chinese Muslims instead of Muhammad
• Mehmed, a Turkish form of Muhammed
• Mohd, shortened version of Muhammad used in South Asia
• Mohammadi (disambiguation)
• Muhammad (disambiguation)

• All pages with titles beginning with Muhammad
• All pages with titles beginning with Mohamad
• All pages with titles beginning with Mohammad
• All pages with titles beginning with Mohammed
• All pages with titles beginning with Mohamed
• All pages with titles beginning with Mehmet

• Arabic name
• Turkish name