Loading AI tools
Name list From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Muhammad (Arabic: مُحَمَّد, romanized: Muḥammad), also spelled Muhammed, Muhamad, Mohammad, Mohammed, Mahammad, Maxammed, Mehemmed, Mohamad, Mohamed, or in a variety of other ways, is an Arabic given male name meaning 'praiseworthy'. The name comes from the passive participle of the Arabic verb ḥammada (حَمَّدَ), meaning 'to praise', which itself comes from the triconsonantal Semitic root Ḥ-M-D. Believed to be the most popular name in the world, by 2014 it was estimated to have been given to 150 million men and boys.[2]
This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2013) |
Pronunciation |
|
---|---|
Gender | Male |
Origin | |
Word/name | Arabic |
Meaning | "praised", "worthy of all praises"[citation needed] |
Region of origin | Arabia |
Other names | |
Alternative spelling | Moohammed, Mahmad, Mahammad, Mahammed, Muhammadu, Mahamed, Mohamad, Mohamed, Mohammad, Mohammed, Muhamad, Muhamed, Muhammed, Muhammet, Muhummud, Mahammud, Mohd. Muh., Mochamad, Mohamud, Mokhmad, Mukhammad, Md., Mo., M., Mohammad, Muhammad, |
The name has been banned for newborn children in the Xinjiang region of China since 2017,[3] as well as for the Ahmadi community in Pakistan.[4]
The name Muḥammad is the standard, 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].[5]
The name has one of the highest numbers of English spelling variants in the world.[6] 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 ubiquity. Its popularity has meant that it can become hard to distinguish people. 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, Mohammad Mokhber, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Mohammad Rizwan, Ijaz-ul-Haq, Zia-ul-Haq, Yusuf Khattak, Ayub Khan, Amjad Saqib, Kamran Tessori, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar use their second given name or surname.[citation needed]
According to the sixth edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia (2000), Muhammad is probably the most common given name in the world, including variations.[7] The Independent reported in 2014 that more than 150 million men and boys in the world bear the name Muhammad, which would make it the most popular name in the world.[8] Approximately 60% of people named Muhammad live in Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan.
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.[9] 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).[10][11]
Mohammed and Mohamed were the most popular baby name in Département Seine-Saint-Denis (2002, 2008)[12] and in Marseilles (2007, 2009), France.[13] Similarly, since 2008 it has been the most popular baby boy name in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium's most Muslim-populated cities.[14]
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.[15]
In 2009, Muhammad, the most common spelling variant, was ranked 430th in the US.[16] According to the Social Security Administration, Mohammad was ranked 589th, Mohammed 633rd, and Muhammad the 639th most popular first name for newborns in 2006.[17] 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.[18][19]
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.[20]
If all variants of Muhammad are counted, there are 15,723 people in Finland named Muhammad, accounting for 0.7% of the Finnish male population. The most common spelling is Mohamed, accounting for 38% of the Muhammad name carriers.[21][22]
In 2022, it was the 35th most popular name given to boys in Canada.[23]
In 2017 legislation made it illegal in China to give children names that the Chinese government deemed to "exaggerate religious fervor”.[26][27] This prohibition included a ban on naming children Muhammad.[27] The legislation was officially intended to prevent "religious extremism" among the country's Uighur minority, but may have been an act of persecution against the Uighur community.[28][29]
The government of Pakistan forbids members of its Ahmadi community from naming their children Muhammad.[30][31] Al Jazeera reported in 2021 that blasphemy charges had been filed against Ahmadis who wrote "Mohammed" on a wedding invitation in an unspecified amount of instances.[32]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.