The name Mohamed is now the second most popular name for newborn boys in the Swedish city of Gothenburg and the third most popular in multicultural Malmö.
New figures from Statistics Sweden reveal that the most popular name for newborn boys in 2019 was Elias, with Mohamed, including all the various spellings of the name, being the second most popular despite not appearing in the top ten nationwide, Goteborgs-Posten reports.
Nationally, Mohamed appears in 29th place, far behind the most popular name in Sweden which was Lucas. The name Mohamed has increased slightly nationwide since the previous year, up from 33rd in 2018.
Another Arabic name, Omar, has also seen a rise nationally, going from 98th most popular to 82nd in 2019. Amir rose from 93rd to 91st, and Ibrahim, a popular Arabic version of Abraham, debuted on the list at 99th place.
In the southern city of Malmö, Mohamed managed to become the 3rd most popular newborn boys name in 2019, behind Elias and Adam.
Katharina Leibring, associate professor at the Institute of Languages and Popular Memories, commented on the result saying that the popularity of Mohamed was not surprising, saying: “Mohamed is the Arabic name that always tops the list of names. In addition, boys are given more traditional names more often than girls.”
In recent years, Mohammed and its various alternative spellings have become increasingly popular across Europe among newborn baby boys.
In 2018, it was revealed that Mohammed was the number one most popular name for baby boys in Berlin and that same year another report showed it to be the most popular in the notorious no-go suburbs of Paris as well.
In Belgium, the name became the most popular across the entire country in 2017 when all of the various spellings are taken into consideration. The same phenomenon has been seen in England and Wales for years when all spellings of the name are counted together.
In August of 2019, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released an article arguing that the reason Mohammed had become more popular was due to a decline in traditional Christian names, the influence of celebrity culture, and parents opting for “original” names for their children.
“Meanwhile, the number of babies named Muhammad (including variant spellings) has remained pretty consistent over the last 10 to 15 years. This is a key reason why Muhammad has climbed up the rankings in recent years,” the article claimed.
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