Muhammad’ just became one of the 10 most popular names for boys in England and Wales, leaving behind ‘William’ and taking its place.
Over the past decade, this name has risen 35 places and finally made it to the eighth place, with 3,908 newborn boys being given this name. But these are the statistical figures from the digital database. If the other spellings (Mohammed, Mohammad etc) are accounted for, the Arabic name could be the most popular name for boys in the UK.
It should be noted that the population of Muslims has also increased significantly in the UK, specifically in England, and stands at 5.02% (2,660,116) of the total population. It was also reported in 2011 that UK could have as many as 100,000 converts to Islam. From 2001 till 2009, the Muslim population had statistically increased 10 times faster than the non-Muslim population.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) demonstrated that popular culture did have a significant effect on the choice of baby names made by the parents.
Popular names like Oliver, Harry, Jack, Charlie, and Thomas have remained in the top 10 for years, probably because of influence from TV shows, books, and movies. Recently, Arya (Spelled Aria by some people) from Game of Thrones has been popularized as well.
Royal names like Charlotte and George still hold the top positions with George being the third most popular name in the UK.
