Question for Muslim Mumsnetters re names

[BarbaraVineFan]

I’ve just seen the ONS top baby names list and am intrigued as to why Muhammad is by far the most popular boys’ name in the country, but no traditionally Muslim names appear in the girls’ top 10 list. Is this because there is a much wider variety of names given to girls in Muslim culture? Or is there another reason I haven’t thought of?

I would consider that literally naming your child after the main prophet of god is considered a bit of an honour. The Muslim faith does encompass many cultures so while many names would be familiar (Like Sarah, Yasmin) to western ears, Muhammad does stand out.

There's a much larger pool of the girls' names I think. Whereas Muhammad is very, very popular with no contest. About 6.5% of the UK population is Muslim apparently, but a glance at the popular boys' names list could be misleading and make someone think it's a lot, lot higher (if they don't understand statistics).

thanks, so do you mean that Muslim boys are disproportionately likely to be named Muhammad because it is considered the most honourable name?

It's a statistical quirk. A significant percentage of boys of Muslim parents are called Muhammad. Non-Muslim parents of boys have a much broader range of names to choose from as do Muslim and non-Muslim parents of girls. It's a bit like how there are a lot of girls called Mary in Catholic families.

Traditionally, a lot of Muslim boys have Muhammad as their first name, but are known by their second name. So you might have three Muhammad's in a class but they'll go by Abbas, Noah and Hussain, for example.

Similarly, Jesús used to be used in the same way (as a first name, with the second name being used) in Latin American countries although I don't think it is as common as it used to be.

I’d be interested to know why the name Yahya is the fastest growing boy name in the UK this year. I am genuinely hoping it isn’t because of Yahya Sinwar, the “martyred” Hamas leader. That would be terrifying.

Yahya is the Arabic name for St John the Baptist apparently.
I had to look it up so hopefully the website I used was accurate.

Yahya has always been a popular name in the UK, apparently it was more popular in the UK than any other western country between 1996-2021 which doesn't surprise me considering how many I know of, neither does it's growing popularity. Yahya was considered a miracle as he was given as a gift from God, and the name was chosen by God. It's a lovely name for a child, and was on my list of potential baby names when pregnant.

There are a fair few famous Yahya's - I can think of a poet, actor and footballer off of the top of my head. Sinwar would be further down on the list of associations with the name for me.

I was going to say this.

All bar one of the Muslim men I know have Muhammad/Mohammed as their first name but are known by their middle names.

There's no equivalent for girls so more variety as actual first names.

Same for my DC’s cousin, he is Mohammed but is known by his middle name.

Yes, I work with three Mohammeds and, like other posters have said, they all use their middle names.

Thanks everyone, that makes sense!

It’s very common for Muslim parents to call all their sons Mohammed, and then use their middle name as their actual name. That’s what distorts these name charts - as many Muslim boys will be registered as Mohammed. I had an ex whose first name was officially Mohammed, as was his brother, dad, cousins and nephew, but none of them had were actually called Mohammed.