Mohammed is top boys' names in England

Taken from Daily Express, By Sarah O'Grady,
Thursday October 28,2010

MOHAMMED is now the most popular given name for newborn boys in England and Wales

The Muslim name – which means “one who is praise­worthy” in the Islamic religion – outnumbered traditional names like Jack and Harry for the first time last year.

The name, when 12 different spellings were included, was given to 7,549 youngsters in 2009, official statistics reveal.

Oliver was the second most popular and it was given to 7,364 boys in England and Wales. Jack – which had been the top name for baby boys for the previous 14 years – was third, Harry fourth and Alfie in fifth place.

Because official figures did not take into account the variations in the spelling of Mohammed, Oliver was officially named as the most popular boys’ name by the Office of National Statistics.

The official list put Mohammed in only 16th place. But when the other 11 different spellings of the same name are taken into account it is the most popular.

Mohammed was given to 3,300 boys, while Muhammad was given to 2,162 youngsters. There are in fact 14 recognised variations of the spelling – although only 12 of them were given to newborn British boys last year.

The most popular Muslim girls name is Aisha – and was given to 541 girls last year ranking it 101 on the list, up from 110 in 2006.

While Oliver was beaten to first place by Mohammed, in the girls list Olivia came out on top. Ruby, Chloe, Emily and Sophie made up the top five in the list of girls’ names in 2009.

Murtaza Shibli, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said he was not surprised Mohammed had become the most popular boys’ name.

He said: “Parents choose it because of their love of the prophet Mohammed and they believe the name will bring happiness and abundance. Also, there’s a belief they will follow the good example of the prophet.”

More generally, the trend of the past 10 years of the popularity of names common around the start of the 20th century like Evie and Lily continues.

And there were also 16 newborn Kings in 2009, three King Davids, 68 Princes, eight Dukes, 11 Earls, four Barons and four Lords. Amongst the girls, there were 12 Queenies, seven Queens, 109 Princesses and five Ladys.

Mothers of newborn and slightly older babies are urged by the ONS to include their babies’ details in the 2011 Census, taking place in March.

“Babies often go unrecorded in the census as new mothers sometimes don’t realise they need to enter the details of even the very newest member of the household,” ONS spokesman William Mach said yesterday.

“There is a strong link between filling in the census and the authorities being able to plan and provide public services in years to come – for example, in setting numbers of school places.”