Mohammed tops the list of most popular baby boy names in England and Wales

Mohammed is the most popular name for boys in England and Wales- but it doesn’t top the official list because there are so many different ways to spell it.

Mohammed is the most popular name for boys in England and Wales- but it doesn’t top the official list because there are so many different ways to spell it.

There were 7,361 children born last year called Mohammed, Muhammed, Mohammad or Mohamed, according to the Office for National Statistics, which would have made it the number one boys name if the variations were taken into account.

There are officially 14 different ways to spell Mohammed – which means ‘one who is praiseworthy’ – and the variation in spelling can depend on a family’s background, whether they are from an Arabic-speaking country and differences in pronunciation