For another year, Muhammad has topped the list for the most popular name for new born babies in England and Whales.
Officially, however, the name doesn’t make it to the top because there are so many different ways to spell it. In 2015, there were 7,361 children who were given the names, Mohammed, Muhammad, Mohammad or Mohamed according to the Office for National
Due to the different variations of the name, it was, in fact, Oliver that was officially the top name in the list, with Amelia dominating the figures for female babies. If the variations were taken into consideration, however, the name would have made it the number one boys’ name.
The list also included names inspired by TV characters that include those from Game of Thrones and Lord of The Rings. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is also proving to be popular with parents of 15 children inspired to name their child after his surname.
Royal names including William, Harry and George remain popular as always with all three coming in the top 10 list however Charlotte came in at 25th place despite the nation’s love for the baby princess.
The name Muhammad which means ‘one who is praiseworthy’ has 14 different variations depending on the family background and how they pronounce it.
The most popular way to spell the name is ‘Muhammad’ which came in at 12th place with 3,730 boys named after it.
London and the West Midlands were the two regions of England which both had Muhammad as the most popular name. Oliver remained popular for all other regions.
Elizabeth McLaren, a statistician from the ONS, said: “Amelia and Oliver remained the most popular names for baby girls and boys born in 2015, having held the top spot since 2011 and 2013 respectively.”
Statistics from the Office for National Statistics are based on names given on the birth certificates taking into account the exact spellings. Grouping names with similar pronunciation would change the list rankings completely.
There were 697,852 live births in England and Wales last year with top 100 boys’ names accounting for 52 per cent of all boys born. Similarly, top 100 girl’s names accounted for 43 per cent.
Half of the most popular names for boys in 2015 have been on the list for over a decade now. These are Oliver, Jack, Harry, William and Thomas that have been on the list since 2005.
Oscar and Noah showed that biggest increase in popularity whereas Daniel showed the biggest decline dropping some 18 places.
‘Jaxon, a US-version of the traditional Jackson, was also among the popular names, after being made famous by Jaxon Bieber, half brother of Justin.’
Courtesy: Daily Mail