Mohammed Top Name For Baby Boys In The UK

Back in 2007, I wrote about how the name Mohammed (in all its multitude of variations) was England's second most popular name in 2006 to call a baby boy. At the time good old 'Jack' was the most popular, but it was predicted that Mohammed would take first place by the following year. The prediction wasn't quite on target- it took top honors in London and a few other regions in 2008, but the name did not hit jackpot until last year.

Apparently, Mohammed (if you include all the different versions) became the number one boy's name across England in 2009, with Jack being booted (after 14 years as king) to third place with Oliver taking second. Whether this is because Islam (as predicted) is the fastest growing religion in the world, or whether the Muslims in the UK are becoming more religious, as some seem to think, is uncertain.

Damian Thompson, of the UK Telegraph, is one who believes it's due to the increased religiosity of young British Muslims. Thompson quotes from a 2007 Policy Exchange Poll:

Young British Muslims are much more likely than their parents to follow the rules of the Islamic religion, a think tank survey showed.

Support for Sharia law, Islamic schools and wearing the Hijab is much stronger among younger Muslims, according to the survey by the centre-right Policy Exchange.

The survey of more than 1,000 Muslims from different age groups in the UK, found:

• 71% of over-55s compared with 62% of 16 to 24-year-olds believe that they have as much, if not more, in common with non-Muslims in Britain than with Muslims abroad.

• 19% of over-55s compared with 37% of 16 to 24-year-olds would prefer to send their children to Islamic state schools.

• 17% of over-55s compared with 37% of 16 to 24-year-olds would prefer living under Sharia law than British law.

• 28% of over-55s compared with 74% of 16 to 24-year-olds prefer Muslim women to choose to wear the Islamic headscarf

Since the last UK census was in 2001, there's no way to determine if it also has to do with a growing immigrant population, and/or the fact that Muslims have a tendency to encourage the building of large families. Either way, it's an indication that England's Muslim population is becoming more religiously conservative, which ultimately does not bode well for the country. But that's been pretty obvious over the years.

The various spellings included:

Muhammad, Mohammad, Muhammed, Mohamed, Mohamad, Muhamed, Mohammod, Mahamed, Muhamad, Mahammed and Mohmmed.

Bye-bye Jack. I'm sure Mohammed will continue to reign supreme in the poor old UK.