Mohammed
Masculine · Arabic roots · “praised”
Mohammed is one spelling of a name that has been spoken daily, somewhere in the world, for fourteen centuries — in Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Malay, Hausa, Somali and Bosnian, in mosques and on team sheets. It moves easily in the mouth: three beats, the middle one stressed, ending soft. In the United States it has been on the books for generations and still turns up in this year's classrooms, at a steady pace rather than a fashionable one.
How old is the name Mohammed?
Mohammed first appears in US birth records in 1922 — 103 years ago. The typical Mohammed alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 16,000 people named Mohammed are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mohammed most popular?
Mohammed peaked in 2001, reaching #479 nationally. Today it ranks #595, 116 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Where it comes from
From Muḥammad (Arabic) to Mohammed
The story of Mohammed
The name is Arabic, and its history in the world begins with Muhammad ibn Abdullah, born in Mecca in the sixth century, the Prophet of Islam. After him the name traveled wherever Islam did — across North Africa, into Persia and Central Asia, through South and Southeast Asia, up into the Balkans and West Africa — and each language reshaped it a little: Mehmet in Turkish, Muhamed in Bosnian, Maxamed in Somali, Muhammadu in Hausa. Because Arabic has sounds and vowels that Latin letters handle imperfectly, English acquired several spellings at once rather than one. Mohammed is the form that came into wide English use through colonial-era transliteration, and it arrived in American records with families from across that whole span of the Muslim world.
Meaning
praised, praiseworthy
From the Arabic root ḥ-m-d, 'to praise'. The same root gives Ahmad, Mahmud and Hamid, which are separate names rather than variants of this one.
How the name formed
- MuḥammadArabic
- Muhammad
- Mohammed
Related forms: محمد (Muḥammad) · Mehmet · Muhamed · Maxamed · Muhammadu · محمد (Muhammad)
Pronouncing Mohammed
mo-HAM-med
Common American pronunciation. In Arabic it is closer to moo-HAM-mad, with the doubled m held slightly and a fuller vowel in the last syllable. Both are heard in the same family without anyone minding.
Nicknames for Mohammed
High
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
- 1922
- Most boys named
- 2014566 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #479reached in 2001
- Change vs 2023
- +7.5%486 in 2025, from 452
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.
Mohammed in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- محمد (Muḥammad) in Arabic — transliteration
- Mehmet in Turkish — related form
- Muhamed in Bosnian — spelling variant
- Maxamed in Somali — spelling variant
- Muhammadu in Hausa — related form
- محمد (Muhammad) in Urdu — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Illinois, Michigan. International figures from Office for National Statistics. Sources
Mohammeds among us
people named Mohammed are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,515 born in 2025 was named Mohammed
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mohammed
- #595
- Mohammed on the 2025 chart
- #312
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mohammed went to 486 boys in 2025, but Mohamed is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,054, which makes it the 312th most-given boys’ name of the year — 283 places above the chart.
- Mohamed568
- Mohammed486
About 1 boy in 1,621 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 3,515 for Mohammed itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Donnell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mohammed's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Donnell climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Donnell's path sketches the road Mohammed is walking now.
Mohammed 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
Where Mohammed is headed
Mohammed should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Mohammed beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mohammed in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Recognized on sight almost anywhere in the world — few names cross as many languages, alphabets and borders intact.
- Mo is an established short form with generations of use behind it, and it also stands alone.
- Fourteen centuries of continuous use, with no gap and no revival needed.
- Familiar in the United States without being crowded — a child is unlikely to share it in a classroom.
- Several English spellings compete: Muhammad, Mohamed, Mohammad, Muhammed. Whichever you choose, expect to spell it out at the doctor's office, and expect any single spelling's statistics to understate how common the name really is.
- It is the Prophet's name, and in Muslim families that carries real reverence — a consideration for religious and non-religious households alike. It is also a name that occasionally meets prejudice in the US, which is worth naming plainly rather than discovering later.
- Because it is given so widely in some communities, many boys go by a middle or second name day to day. That can be an advantage or an extra thing to explain, depending on the family.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Mohammed to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Mohammed
Masculine · Arabic roots · #595 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mohammeds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 16,000 people named Mohammed are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mohammed?
- Mohammed is one of 2 recorded spellings. Mohamed is the more common one — 568 births in 2025 against 486 for Mohammed.
- How popular is the name Mohammed in 2025?
- Mohammed ranks #595 among US boy names in 2025, with 486 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mohammed?
- About 1 in every 3,515 US boys born in 2025 was named Mohammed — 486 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mohammed with classmates?
- Mohammed will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mohammed
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Louie#596 · Kolton#594 · Kason#597 · Gregory#593 · Jamir#592 · Alden#598 · Kolter#599 · Jonas#599
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mohammed? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mohammed and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
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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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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