Head to head · Boys' names
Dallas vs Muhammad
#238 vs #239 in 2025
Dallas is a whisker ahead (#238 vs #239 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Dallas is holding its place on the charts, Muhammad is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Muhammad has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Dallas leads 5 measures of 6; Muhammad leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Dallas #363, Muhammad — — Dallas higher
- 1890s: Dallas #335, Muhammad — — Dallas higher
- 1900s: Dallas #321, Muhammad — — Dallas higher
- 1910s: Dallas #338, Muhammad — — Dallas higher
- 1920s: Dallas #292, Muhammad #3959 — Dallas higher
- 1930s: Dallas #264, Muhammad — — Dallas higher
- 1940s: Dallas #297, Muhammad #3587 — Dallas higher
- 1950s: Dallas #363, Muhammad — — Dallas higher
- 1960s: Dallas #436, Muhammad #2999 — Dallas higher
- 1970s: Dallas #421, Muhammad #1403 — Dallas higher
- 1980s: Dallas #346, Muhammad #914 — Dallas higher
- 1990s: Dallas #279, Muhammad #836 — Dallas higher
- 2000s: Dallas #343, Muhammad #644 — Dallas higher
- 2010s: Dallas #292, Muhammad #405 — Dallas higher
- 2020s: Dallas #254, Muhammad #278 — Dallas higher
Dallas stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Dallas | Muhammad |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #363 | — |
| 1890s | #335 | — |
| 1900s | #321 | — |
| 1910s | #338 | — |
| 1920s | #292 | #3959 |
| 1930s | #264 | — |
| 1940s | #297 | #3587 |
| 1950s | #363 | — |
| 1960s | #436 | #2999 |
| 1970s | #421 | #1403 |
| 1980s | #346 | #914 |
| 1990s | #279 | #836 |
| 2000s | #343 | #644 |
| 2010s | #292 | #405 |
| 2020s | #254 | #278 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Dallas
Not charting outside the US.
Muhammad
- England & Wales#1
- Scotland#4
- Canada#26
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Dallas
most likely 'meadow dwelling' or 'meadow by the waterfall'
The Scottish place name behind it is read two ways. One reading takes it from Brythonic or Pictish elements meaning roughly 'meadow' and 'dwelling'; the other from Gaelic dail ('meadow, haugh') with eas ('waterfall'). Both point at low green ground beside water, which is why the two readings sit together comfortably rather than canceling each other out.
Dallas (lands in Moray, Scotland) → Dolays (medieval Scottish surname) → Dallas (Scottish surname) → Dallas (given name)
How it traveled
The lands of Dallas lie in Moray, and by the medieval period a family had taken their name from them, appearing in Scottish records in forms such as Dolays before settling into the modern spelling. Emigration carried the surname to North America, where — as happened to Scottish surnames generally — it began to be handed out as a first name.
Muhammad
praised, praiseworthy
From the Arabic root ḥ-m-d, 'to praise'. The related names Ahmad, Mahmud and Hamid come from the same root.
Muḥammad (Arabic) → Muhammad → Mehmed → Mehmet
How it traveled
Muhammad is Arabic, and it belongs to the Prophet of Islam, born in Mecca in the sixth century — after him the name spread with Islam across Arabia, North Africa, Anatolia, Persia, South Asia, the Malay world and West Africa. Each language reshaped it in its own script and sound: Mehmet in Turkish, Mohammad in Persian, Mamadou in parts of West Africa, Muhamed in Bosnia.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Dallas
DAL-us
Stress on the first syllable. The second is an unstressed 'us' or 'is' depending on region; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting.
- Dal — The usual clipped form, informal and mostly spoken rather than written.
- Dally — An affectionate family form, used more with small children than with adults.
Muhammad
moo-HAM-mad
Also widely said moh-HAM-med, depending on family tradition and which spelling is used. In Arabic the middle m is doubled and held, and the first h is made further back in the throat than in English.
- Mo — The everyday short form in English-speaking countries; also stands alone as a given name and a surname.
- Moe — The same short form written the American way, informal.
- Md. / Mohd. — A written abbreviation common in South Asia and Malaysia, used on documents rather than spoken aloud.
- second given name — In many South Asian and Malay families Muhammad stands first as an honorific and the child is called by the name that follows it.
Who has carried each name
Dallas
No documented entry for Dallas yet.
Muhammad
Muhammad (b. 571) — The Prophet of Islam
Muhammad Ali (b. 1942) — "The Greatest" — boxing's most famous champion
Muhammad Yunus (b. 1940) — Nobel Peace laureate who pioneered microloans for the poor
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Dallas if you want…
- a name holding steadyDallas is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesDallas is 2 syllables to Muhammad's 3
- a long American recordDallas was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 25% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 51% for Muhammad
Choose Muhammad if you want…
- a name on the way upup 70 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMuhammad runs 3 syllables, Dallas 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Mo, Moe and Md. / Mohd.
- a name that charts abroad tooMuhammad is on the national lists of England & Wales, Scotland and Canada
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Dallas
Strengths
- Unbroken presence in American records since the earliest years of national name statistics — long familiarity, without ever having been a crowd.
- A spelling nobody has to be told twice: the city has taught it to every English speaker.
- Given to both boys and girls, so the name itself needs no adjustment either way.
To consider
- The place association is unavoidable. Most people will think of the Texas city, the football team, or the television series that ran from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, and some will hear the city's link to the Kennedy assassination.
- Strongest in Texas, Georgia and California — inside Texas especially, the name and the city are hard to separate, which may read as local pride or as a lot to carry.
- It leans boy in the records. A girl named Dallas is in a real but smaller group, and may occasionally be assumed a boy on paper before she is met in person.
Muhammad
Strengths
- Recognized on every continent and in dozens of languages, so it travels without explanation.
- Long, unbroken record from the seventh century to the present — it has never had to be revived.
- Charts in England and Wales, Scotland and Canada as well as the United States.
To consider
- The spelling is the main practical matter: Mohammed, Mohamed, Muhammed and Mohammad are all in wide use, so whichever you choose will sometimes be written another way. Deciding once and writing it consistently on documents saves the most trouble.
- The name is inseparable from Islam and from the Prophet, which is precisely the point for many families and worth thinking through for any family for whom it is not.
- In American classrooms he is unlikely to meet another, even though the name is enormously common worldwide — the totals split across all those spellings.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Dallas
25%chance Dallas feels dated by 2040
Dallas peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
Muhammad
51%chance Muhammad feels dated by 2040
Muhammad is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Dallas and Muhammad in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Dallas and Muhammad?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Dallas and Muhammad — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Dallas or Muhammad — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Dallas or Muhammad?
- Dallas, in 2025: Dallas ranked #238 with 1,475 babies; Muhammad ranked #239 with 1,473 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Dallas or Muhammad?
- Muhammad. Over the last five years Dallas moved up 31 places; Muhammad moved up 70 places.
- Which is the older name, Dallas or Muhammad?
- Dallas was already in use when US records began in 1880; Muhammad entered the US charts in 1929. On the American record, Dallas is the older name.
- How many people are named Dallas and Muhammad?
- About 56,000 people named Dallas are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 21,500 people named Muhammad are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Dallass or Muhammads in the classroom?
- Dallas will almost certainly be the only one in school. Muhammad will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Dallas, Muhammad and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap