The top 100 most popular names for baby boys in the UK were released recently, and it shows that the most popular first name is Muhammad. According to the data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Muhammad was the top name chosen by parents for boys in England and Wales in 2023, while its other spellings Mohammed and Mohammad also made it to the top 100.
Muhammad has been in the top 10 names for boys since 2016, but it topped the chart in 2023, overtaking the earlier top name Noah. Even if various versions of Muhammad were taken as separate names, variants such as Mohammed and Mohammad also appeared in the top 100 list for England and Wales.
The name Muhammad was given to 4,661 baby boys in total, while other variants like Mohammed appeared 1601 times and Mohammad appeared 835 times in the list separately. Therefore, the name appeared 7097 times in the list of top 100 names that were given to over 1.35 lakh babies in total.
Notably, while ONS lists them as separate names due to variance in spellings, they are transliterations of the same Arabic word in Roman characters, and therefore they are actually the same name. There are other variations of the word in use, like Mohamad, Mohamed, Mohammad, Mohammed, Muhamad, Muhamed, Muhammad, Muhammed, Muhammet and others. As such spellings are not in the top 100, the actual name including all variants will be much more.
For girls, Olivia remains the most popular choice, followed by Amelia and Isla. The list saw the inclusion of new names such as Lilah, Raya and Haze for girls and Jax, Enzo and Bodhi for boys. Sanskrit origin Bodhi was in 100th place with 532 boys given the name.
The rise of the name Muhammad to the top position, along with other names in the top 100 like Yusuf, reflects the massive demographic shifts taking place in the UK. This is the result of the increasing Muslim population in the country, fuelled by continuous immigration from Muslim nations, which has seen opposition from right-wing groups in recent times.
