Finding Name Mo’
The Jerusalem Post reports on a worrying - but hardly surprising - trend in England.
The name Mohammed is expected to become the most popular name in England and Wales by 2008, the Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday.
The name, according to the report, was second only to Jack in 2007, which has been top for the last 13 years. 6,772 boys were called Jack and 6,387 were called Mohammed or a variant.
“High birth rate among Muslim families” is the reason cited by the report for how Mohammed will be the most popular boy’s name by next year.
Although Mohammed was ranked 17th, the name’s position would be numbered second if all 14 variant spellings of the name were taken into account.
The Telegraph found that of the 3,009 babies called Mohammed, the most popular spelling was Muhammad (1,595), followed by 903 Mohammads, 429 Muhammeds, 349 Mohameds, 39 Mohamads, 12 Muhameds, 11 Mohammods, nine Mohmmeds, eight Mohamuds, seven Mahammeds, six Muhammeets, five Mohmmads and five Muhammods.
Muhammad Anwar (heh - Aussie Dave), professor of ethnic relations at Warwick University, was quoted by the newspaper as saying: “Muslim parents like to have something that shows a link with their religion or with the Prophet.”
Except teddy bears, I guess.
Now don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against a growing Muslim population per se. It’s just that when you factor in the proportion of the growing Muslim population which is acting to reduce the non-Muslim population, there’s real cause for concern.
Update: The Jerusalem Post story includes this picture and caption:
In case you thought the Post had gone to the trouble of finding 4 babies named Mohammed/ Mohammad/ Muhammed/ Mohamed/ Mohamad/ Muhamed/ Mohammod/ Mohmmed/ Mohamud/ Mahammed/ Muhammeet/ Mohmmad/ Muhammod, and lined them up for a photograph.
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.
December 20th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Meanwhile, over in Germany…..
December 21st, 2007 at 2:48 am
A Mohammad Explosion…
Israellycool:I have nothing against a growing Muslim population per se. It’s just that when you factor in the proportion of…
December 21st, 2007 at 5:06 am
But then, one needs to remember that the most popular male name among Muslims represents a far smaller proportion of their population than the most popular male name among Anglo Saxon stock. Plus the addition of Indian and Chinese and such mean that the story is less informative than other indicators might be.
What I am curious about is not just changes but changes in rates of change. What fraction of Mohammads become apostates and is that rate increasing or decreasing over time? Very difficult info to get, I will grant you. But if the number of Muslim immigrants’ children who leave the faith becomes greater than the number who become radicalized and so become more visible, the increasing Muslim population could result in an increasing population of atheist and Christian people of Muslim ancestry who are not afraid to demand that their politicians press Muslim nations to respect the human right to freedom of conscience.
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Not sure what the point is of the Post’s picture.
“For those of you who wondered, this is what babies look like”
“So, these babies [not named Mohammed] are pretty cute, eh?”
“Babies, all the taste but fewer calories”