Muhammad
Meaning
praiseworthy (the most commonly given name in the world, honoring the Prophet)
Goes by Mo
The story
Muhammad is Arabic for praiseworthy, the name of the Prophet, and, as our meaning records note, often called the most commonly given name in the world. Its American record is the patient, community-carried shape this site has learned to recognize: higher every decade since the 1960s, about 50 becoming 520, then 1,000, 1,700, 3,400, 7,800, with 7,500 so far this decade, closing on the full 2010s total. Two honest details complete the picture. First, this line understates the reality: Muhammad, Mohammed, Mohamed and Mohammad all chart separately, and the family of transliterations together is far larger than any one spelling. Second, one figure is absolute: across sixty years of records, not one girl, 22,000 boys to zero, a reverence the record itself seems to keep. The most famous American bearer chose the name in 1964 and became, by wide agreement, the greatest.
Muhammad's name family
One shared root links 4 names in Arabic.
Shared root: from the Arabic root h-m-d "to praise": Muhammad reads "praiseworthy" and Ahmad "most praised", both names of the Prophet
The family
More branches
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Muhammad peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
145 people · the #31,820 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 28
Among people named Muhammad living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 22 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Muhammad
Most people given the name Muhammad in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Muhammad deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Muhammad truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Muhammad fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Muhammad travels
British and London · the most-registered boys' name in England for over a decade
Malay and Malaysian · praiseworthy (Arabic). For Malay boys it works as a first element rather than a call name: a Muhammad Danish answers to Danish, and Malaysian records often abbreviate it to Mohd.
Urdu and Pakistani · praised, praiseworthy; the most common boys' name in Pakistan, where convention often gives it as a first name of honor while the boy goes by his second name (a Muhammad Bilal answers to Bilal); US spellings Muhammad, Mohammad, and Mohammed all appear on Pakistani-American birth certificates
Keep exploring
Names like Muhammad · Malay and Malaysian baby names · Urdu and Pakistani baby names · Arab American baby names · British and London baby names
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