Is there a conspiracy to keep ‘Mohammed’ out of the most popular name lists? Cranmer posted this piece today.For the last 14 years Jack has been the most popular boys' name in the land. But in multicultural Britain children named after the Muslim prophet Mohammed come a close second. Back in 2007, The Times observed that Muhammad was the second most-popular name chosen for boys in the UK. And they prophesied, along with The Daily Mail, that 2008 would see it hit the Number One slot. (The Evening Standard also predicted Mohammed would be No. 1 in 2008)
So where is it?
According to The Guardian, and The Times, Jack remained the most popular name for a boy in 2008, and Muhammed appears absolutely nowhere. The Daily Telegraph has also expunged the name, despite prophesying along with everybody else that it would overtake Jack in 2008.
And all the ad-hoc lists compiled by private companies also appear to have eradicated all mention of Mohammed, whether spelt with a ‘u’, or an ‘o’, two ‘m’s or one. And the website nobly called ‘Innocent English’ has also cleansed its lists of the Islamic Prophet.
Even when one takes into account that there are at least 14 different spellings of the name – all pronounced the same – it is utterly baffling that the name now appears nowhere. The main two, Mohammed and Muhammad (a non-Arab Muslim would adopt the name ending in -ed while an Arab Muslim would adopt the -ad ending) are complemented by Mohammad, Muhammed, Mohamed, Mohamad, Mahammed, Mohammod, Mahamed, Muhammod, Muhamad, Mohmmed, Mohamud and Mohammud. And these are augmented still by the much less-common Mehmet or Mohemet.
The spelling ‘Muhammad’ (which means ‘one who is praiseworthy’), like all transliterations, comes from replacing the Arabic script with what is deemed its closest Latin equivalent. It is well known that Muslim parents like to have something that shows a link with their religion or with their Prophet. Parents who name their son Mohammed believe that the name has an effect on their personality and future characteristics. They are saying that this boy will be of good character.
At the last census, Muslims accounted for 3 per cent of the British population - about 1.5 million people. However, immigration (legal and illegal) is now believed to have swelled this to 3 million. The Muslim birthrate is roughly three times higher than the non-Muslim one. Statistics from the ONS show that Muslim households are larger than those of other religions. The average size of a Muslim household is 3.8 people while a third contained more than five people. It is therefore unsurprising that ‘Muhammed’ entered the Top 30 names in 2000, reached Number 17 in 2007 (an increase of 12 per cent), and its rise up the league tables since has been driven by the growing number of young Muslims having families.
But have they ceased? Read the answer and the rest of Cranmer's article here
See also Richard Batholomew's blog Clarion Fund Promotes “Islam” Doll Hysteria
