More than 7,500 baby boys in England and Wales last year were named a spelling variation of Muhammad.
An official list of the most popular baby boys’ names in England and Wales reveals Muhammad may be the most popular when its spelling variations are accounted for.
The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) list of 2015 puts Oliver, Jack and Harry at the top.
Muhammad appears at number 12. However, Mohammed, Mohammad and Muhammed also appear on the list.
When the different spellings of the same name are combined Muhammad was used 7,570 times on birth certificates last year, compared to 6,941 times for Oliver.
The ONS considers the different spellings as different names because it compiles the list according to their spellings on official documents. It makes the same distinction between Sofia and Sophia, for example.
“To make a fair comparison either all names should be treated separately or all names on the list should be combined with names that have a similar spelling,” an ONS spokesperson told The Independent.
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“If the latter approach was taken it would make the lists look very different. But it would also require subjective decision-making about whether certain names are distinctive or not – for example it would raise issues such as whether or not we should combine Sara with Sarah and Anna with Ana – some people pronounce these names the same way, but other people do not,” the ONS added.
The ONS, the British Government’s statistics agency, said Muhammad first entered the top 100 boys’ names in 1924 but has since increased in popularity.
