Mehmet
Masculine · “praised”
Mehmet is Turkey's Muhammad, and the change is deliberate: Turkish traditionally reserved the exact Arabic form for the Prophet himself and used Mehmet for everyone else. It is among the most-given names in the country, and it belonged to the sultan who took Constantinople at twenty-one.
How old is the name Mehmet?
Mehmet first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Mehmet alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 800 people named Mehmet are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mehmet most popular?
Mehmet peaked in 2015, reaching #2809 nationally. Today it ranks #5045, 2,236 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Muhammad to Mehmet
The story of Mehmet
Turkish took a great deal of Arabic vocabulary and reshaped it thoroughly, and names went the same way: Muhammad became Mehmet, Ali stayed Ali, Fatima became Fatma. The distinction between Mehmet for people and Muhammed for the Prophet was long observed, though it has softened. Six Ottoman sultans carried it, including the one who ended the Byzantine empire in 1453. It came to American records with Turkish and Balkan Muslim families.
Meaning
praised; praiseworthy
Arabic Muhammad, from the root h-m-d, to praise, meaning one who is praised. Turkish reshaped the vowels to its own patterns, giving Mehmet, and the two forms have coexisted with a clear division of use.
How the name formed
- Muhammad
- Mehmet
Related forms: Muhammad · Mehmed · Mehmet · Mohammad
Pronouncing Mehmet
meh-MET
Two syllables with the stress at the end, both vowels short. Turkish spelling is exactly phonetic, so nothing in it is a surprise once the stress is known.
Nicknames for Mehmet
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1960
- Most boys named
- 201542 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2809reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −17.4%19 in 2025, from 23
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mehmet in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Muhammad in Arabic — same name
- Mehmed in Bosnian — spelling variant
- Mehmet in Albanian — same name
- Mohammad in Persian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, California.
Mehmets among us
people named Mehmet are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was named Mehmet
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Adrion test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mehmet's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Adrion climbed just as high around 1971, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Adrion's path sketches the road Mehmet is walking now.
Mehmet sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Mehmet beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mehmet in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries the most-given name in the world in a form that is unmistakably Turkish.
- Turkish spelling is phonetic, so the name is written the way it is said.
- Memo is a warm short form used across Turkey.
- Mehmet, Mehmed and Muhammed all appear across neighboring languages, so records may differ.
- English speakers stress the first syllable, which changes the shape of the word.
- Outside Turkish and Balkan communities the name is unfamiliar and gets spelled out.
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What they receive
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Mehmet
Masculine · #5045 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mehmets are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Mehmet are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mehmet in 2025?
- Mehmet ranks #5045 among US boy names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mehmet?
- About 1 in every 89,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Mehmet — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mehmet with classmates?
- Mehmet will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mehmet
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Silver#5045 · Daymon#5045 · Thierry#5045 · Tyrel#5045 · Teague#5045 · Zeyad#5045 · Tavares#5045 · Gardner#5045
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mehmet? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mehmet and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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