Muhammad remains the most popular name for baby boys in the UK, revealing the list compiled by online media company BabyCenter.
Interestingly, Muslim names occupy about 10 percent of all names in the top 100 rankings for both males and females. In addition to Muhammad, the top Muslim name for boys include Ali (31st position), Yusuf (53rd), Ayaan (61st), Ahmad (63rd), Omar (72nd), Abdullah (77th), Abdul (84th), Ibrahim (92nd) and Syed (94th).
Among the females, Layla is the most popular Muslim name, standing in the 24th spot. It is followed by Fatima (27th), Nur (29th), Maryam (33rd), Aisha (37th), Aaliyah (60th), Raya Raya (92nd), and Nora (95th), and Anaya (98th).
The list shows that the baby names were heavily influenced by recent events. Names have been strongly influenced by the popularity of some common names in the UK. For instance, the name Amber dropped in the rankings following the case between Amber Heard and Johny Depp. The name Lily has taken over the name Olivia as the top name in the list for the first time since 2015.
For quite some time, Muhammad has been retaining the top position in the list of popular baby names in the UK. Last year marked the fifth consecutive year of name Muhammad standing at the top position in the list. It seems that the name Olivia had also taken the top position last year.
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“There was a change at the top of the girls’ chart as Olivia reclaimed the top spot after falling back to second place last year. Muhammad held strong for another year in pole position as it proved to be the most popular boys’ name again with parents,” said Sophie Bell, a writer for BabyCentre which is a resource for parents and mums-to-be in the UK, last year.
Muslims wish to name their babies after Holy Prophet Muhammad. As per the latest results, over 3.3 million Muslims are living in the UK with 59% of them based in London.