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Mohammed was the most popular name for baby boys born in England and Wales in 2011 — well ahead of Harry, the next most chosen name.
A government statement said Harry was the most popular boy’s name, but it was outranked by totalling the five most common different spellings of the Muslim prophet.
Harry, the name of Prince William’s younger brother and J. K. Rowling’s boy wizard, was given to 7523 baby boys in 2011.
But a total of 7907 boys were called Mohammed, Muhammad, Mohammad, Muhammed or Mohamed.
According to CNN, variations of this name could become even more popular in 2012, given the adulation around the Somali-born long-distance runner Mo[hammed] Farah, who won two gold medals for Britain at the Olympics.
The popularity of the name comes as the United Kingdom’s Muslim population is expected to double in the next 20 years.
The country, which was about 2% Muslim in 1990, grew to 4.6% Muslim in 2010, with nearly 2.9 million followers of the faith, according to analysis by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
By 2030, the United Kingdom will be just over 8% Muslim, with more than 5.5 million adherents, the Washington-based think tank projected in a 2011 report.
A total of 37,564 babies in Britain have been given a variation of the name Mohammed in the past five years.
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Image: Muslim Thai Post
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