Muhammad (name)

Muhammad (Arabic: محمد‎) is the primary transliteration of the Arabic given name مُحَمَّد‬ that comes from the passive participle of the Arabic verb ḥammada (حَمَّدَ), praise, which comes from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D. The word can therefore be translated as "praised, commendable, laudable".

Lexicology

The name Muḥammad is the strictest and primary transliteration of the Arabic given name, محمد, that comes from the Arabic passive participle of ḥammada (حَمَّدَ), praise, and further from triconsonantal 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].

The name has one of the highest numbers of English spelling variants in the world.^[2] Other Arabic names from the same root include Mahmud, Ahmed, Hamed, Tahmid and Hamid.

Transliterations

The name may be abbreviated to Md., Mohd., Muhd.,Mhd., or simply M. because of its utmost meaning, its popularity has meant that it can become hard to distinguish people when there is a multitude with the same name. 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, Zia-ul-Haq, Ayub Khan and Nawaz Sharif use their second given name.

Statistics

According to the sixth edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia (2000), Muhammad is probably the most common given name [in the world], including variations.^[3] It is estimated that more than 150 million men and boys in the world bear the name Muhammad.^[4]

Muhammad was the most popular baby boys' name in four regions of England and Wales, including in London and the West Midlands according to 2013 official statistics.^[5] It is also 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 other popular British names such as Ollie and Olly.^[6]

Mohammed and Mohamed were the first most popular baby name in Département Seine-Saint-Denis (2002, 2008)^[7] and in Marseilles (2007, 2009), France.^[8] Similarly, since 2008 it is the most popular baby boy name in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium's most Muslim populated cities.^[9]

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.^[10]

In 2009 Mohamed, the most common spelling variant, was ranked 430th in the US.^[11] According to the Social Security Administration, Mohammad was ranked 589th, Mohammed 633rd, and Muhammad the 639th most popular first name for newborns in 2006.^[12] 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.^[13][14]

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.^[15]

Given name

Surname

Patronymics

Derived names

• Muhammad Ali
• Mohammad-Reza
• Mohammad Taqi (disambiguation), several people

See also

• Ma, surname used by some Chinese Muslims instead of Muhammad
• Mehmed, a Turkish form of Muhammed
• Mohd, shortened version of Muhammad used in South Asia
• Arabic name
• Turkish name
• Mohammadi (disambiguation)
• Muhammad (disambiguation)
• All pages beginning with Muhammad
• All pages beginning with Mohamad
• All pages beginning with Mohammad
• All pages beginning with Mohammed
• All pages beginning with Mohamed

References

Look up Muhammad in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.