# Why are so many muslims named Muhammad or Abdullah? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 4, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602 "2010-09-04T17:01:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/21 "2010-09-04T22:27:21Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Really wish a moderator would at least pretend to know what the context is. A "_Kaffir_ is someone who is prone to undertaking acts which are despicable, not as our OP seems to think a non-muslim. > > Fighting ignorance, my… I really wish that you would at least pretend that you might be wrong, and that your personal definition of the word doesn’t match with reality. Before posting what I did, I looked up the word on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kaffir), [Webster’s](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kaffir), and [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffir_%28racial_term%29), and none of them mention anything about despicable actions – or taking any actions at all. It’s either a non-believer, or an insulting word for a black person. I considered that I might not understand the context (which is why I looked it up and why I didn’t issue a warning), but based on what **scamartistry** said and what I found in my research, it appears that you made up a definition in order to insult **scamartistry**. Would you care to convince me otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/22 "2010-09-04T23:11:39Z")
\*Muhammed??? Abdul??? Bob??\* ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/23 "2010-09-05T00:33:20Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > Of course it is a trend. In Britain for example M. is the #2 common name among babies. Question is why is this trend. In the western world, biblical names are not uncommon, probably because they have stood the test of time and permeated into the collective. I doubt however that their christian association plays a big role in parents naming their son Mark for example. This seem to be much bigger thing in the muslim culture. _ **In western world** _ most people give their offspring names that they “like” or maybe a reference to a relative,but aesthetics is the most important factor for most IMHO.? I would be careful not to conflate Protestant Northern Europe to the West as a whole. I agree 100% that in the English speaking world, few people pick names based on biblical relevance. Anecdotally though, I had an aunt on my dad’s side (i.e., Italian) named Concettina, which I believe literally translates as “The Conception.” I’ll let you guess which conception that is referring to. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/24 "2010-09-05T08:46:01Z")
Mohammed with various spellings generally comes up on the statistics as one of the most popular baby names in the city of Oslo, but the statistics are published with a note that they only count the first given name, which is not necessarily the name the child will be known by. In my admittedly limited experience as a teacher, this bares out - many boys who are on the role with Mohammed as their first name have one or more other given names and use those as their daily name. It’s sort of the reverse of my Catholic school days, when it seemed like every girl in the school besides me had Mary/Marie or Ann(e) as a middle name. Oh, and we had three Michaels just in my class. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/25 "2010-09-05T10:19:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > > [@Alessan](#): > > > > Similar to the Hebrew word _kofer_, or “heretic”. > > > > (Hebrew and Arabic share a surprisingly large number of roots). > > I’m not sure why that would be surprising, since they are in the same language family. True, although the split between them took place much earlier than that between, say, French and Italian, or German and English. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/26 "2010-09-05T11:48:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@John\_Mace](#): > > > > I’m not sure why that would be surprising, since they are in the same language family. > > True, although the split between them took place much earlier than that between, say, French and Italian, or German and English. However (unlike like French/Italian) Modern Standard [Arabic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Standard_Arabic)/[Hebrew](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language) are highly classical in origin due to their liturgical importance in their respective religious communities. Try comparing Yiddish to Maltese to Aramaic; now you will see the divergence. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/27 "2010-09-05T13:56:49Z")
Names vary by region. In Northern Cameroon, Muhammad was somewhat uncommon. The big winners with Amadou, Bakari, Salilou and Hamadou. For girls Aissatou and Aminatou came out ahead. All said, there was great variety in names. I imagine you will find similar variation among Muslims in Indonesia and the like. Muslim=/=Middle Eastern. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/28 "2010-09-05T14:22:59Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Try comparing Yiddish to Maltese to Aramaic; now you will see the divergence. I don’t doubt it for Yiddish, since it is a Germanic, not Semitic, language. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/29 "2010-09-05T14:46:21Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > It’s sort of the reverse of my Catholic school days, when it seemed like every girl in the school besides me had Mary/Marie or Ann(e) as a middle name. Oh, and we had three Michaels just in my class. In some traditionally Catholic societies, such as my own, it used to be common for all boys to have Joseph, and all girls to have Marie, as their _first_ given name. It’s even the case for me, and I don’t come from a very religious family. It’s just tradition, although much less common today. It’s understood that despite being the first given name, this religious name is not the child’s usual name: my usual name is my _third_ and last given name, and the same is true for my parents. But when we came into contact with societies with other naming traditions (for example, Americans with the first/middle/last name convention, where the first name is generally also the usual one), this lead in some cases to a misconception that all of us were named Joseph or Marie. This may also be what’s at work with the OP. FWIW, my mother wonders what a phone book in an Arabic country looks like, since a large number of Arabs she meets in her work have “Muhammad” in their list of names, sometimes more than once, with or without spelling variants. I suspect that’s also the result of conflicting naming conventions. I believe it is common in several Arabic countries to use patronymics instead of family names, for example, so when people from these countries immigrate to a Western country with a very different tradition and even a different alphabet, some of the nuance in their names can be lost. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/30 "2010-09-05T14:54:56Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > > [@orcenio](#): > > > > Try comparing Yiddish to Maltese to Aramaic; now you will see the divergence. > > I don’t doubt it for Yiddish, since it is a Germanic, not Semitic, language. Yes, it’s not even Afroasian…how embarrassing :o Let’s just replace that with another language…Amharic then. [Amharic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amharic), [Maltese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_language), and [Syrian Aramaic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriac_language); three Semitic languages that have naturally developed/diverged over time. Unlike [MSA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Standard_Arabic) and [Israeli Hebrew](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelian_Hebrew) they **are not** the products of a modernization/standardization of a classical religious language. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/31 "2010-09-05T15:04:53Z")
Some of my Muslims students have told me that, actually yes, naming your child Mohammed is supposed to give them special favour in the eyes of God. I don’t see anything weird about that, as far as religious beliefs go. In any case, IME it’s pretty rare for someone with the first name Mohammed to actually be _called_ Mohammed. (Others have said this - I’m just adding another data point). The word ‘kaffir’ did make me blink, because the most common usage of that word is as an extremely insulting racial insult. I didn’t even know it also meant ‘heathen;’ I wonder if any Muslims on this board would ever use the word that way? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/32 "2010-09-05T16:06:57Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > > [@scamartistry](#): > > > > Yes you can find this phenomenon in other cultures, but NOT on the same scale as in the muslim world. > > > > … > > > > So lets say you name your kid Muhammad in reference to the prophet, what does this give you? It feels a bit unimaginative when 9/10 in his class have the same name or some derivate. Or is there some hidden meaning in using this name, does it bring bonus points in the eyes of the almighty or an air of piety? > > The name “Muhammad” is analogous to the way the name “Mary” and itd derivitveswas at one time used for girls or is still used in some south American places. Oh, no, in all of Chistianity; I had several German-Swiss coworkers called Maria, I don’t know whether it was related to being in one of the most-Catholic Cantons. Us Hispanics are just more obvious about it, partly due to the multi-word-name thing which allows us to name a lass Mary by naming her Dolores, Mar, Luz, Pili, Cari, Macarena, Lupe, Charo or Carmen, not to mention all those guys called Chema (José Mari, not to be mistaken with Chemi, José Miguel). (Respective patrons for those woman’s names: Our Lady of (the Seven) Pains, Our Lady of the Sea, Our Lady of Light, Our Lady of the Pillar (Patron of Hispanity), Our Lady of Charity or Our Lady of Charity of Copper (Patron of Cuba), Our Lady Macarena (which is a specific version of Our Lady of Hope), Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Patron of Sailors)) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/33 "2010-09-06T01:54:32Z")
I do know that the names are often used by converts who change their name, and while I’m sure the other reasons mentioned above apply, I think it also is a clear sign to non-Muslims of the conversion, as those are the most popular names. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/34 "2010-09-06T02:26:21Z")
Well, nobody’s as fervent as a convert. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/35 "2010-09-06T16:57:36Z")
Back in the 50s, I remember a lot of catholic girls being named “Mary \_\_\_”. So in our school, we had a Mary Catherine, a Mary Elizabeth (and a Mary Beth), a Mary Pat, and so on… I also remember thinking “Why would you name your daughter after The Mother of Christ? Isn’t that kind of a hard role model to live up to?”. But once I heard about how strictly those Marys were brought up, and how diligently their purity was defended, it made sense. Their parents probably figured, why not saddle the girls with some good, healthy guilt? But even the most religious parents in the U.S. didn’t name their kid Jesus. Would that have been considered irreverent? Or cocky? Or the “impossible role model to live up to” thing? So, then, why do so many Hispanic families do it? If it were me, I’d be thinking “Hey, I’m named after a guy who walked on water and forgave people’s sins–and died for them, too! I guess i’d better do a good job of stacking these boxes…” And I guess i’ve got the same question about Muhammed. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/36 "2010-09-06T17:37:23Z")
No, there aren’t many English-language Jesuses - but there are plenty of Joshuas. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/37 "2010-09-06T18:02:23Z")
> [@digs](#): > > And I guess i’ve got the same question about Muhammed. Cannot answer for Hispanics. But Muhammad is NOT analogous to Jesus\*; Muhammad in Muslim theology is most definatly a man, he is not a deity. \*Well strictly speaking he is, since in both are prophets. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/38 "2010-09-06T18:16:36Z")
Well, **AK84** , since you’re back in the thread, would you care to respond to post #21? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/39 "2010-09-07T07:25:31Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Back in the 50s, I remember a lot of catholic girls being named “Mary \_\_\_”. So in our school, we had a Mary Catherine, a Mary Elizabeth (and a Mary Beth), a Mary Pat, and so on… > > I also remember thinking “Why would you name your daughter after The Mother of Christ? Isn’t that kind of a hard role model to live up to?”. But once I heard about how strictly those Marys were brought up, and how diligently their purity was defended, it made sense. Their parents probably figured, why not saddle the girls with some good, healthy guilt? > > But even the most religious parents in the U.S. didn’t name their kid Jesus. Would that have been considered irreverent? Or cocky? Or the “impossible role model to live up to” thing? But a patron isn’t a role model, it’s a protector and intercessor. Why wouldn’t you want your child to have the best advocate you can possibly get? And what better one than God Himself? (In the Hispanic POV, which you were asking for). The non-Hispanic US parents think that saying “Jesus” is “taking the Lord’s name in vain”; we don’t: that’s why they do not name a boy Jesus and we do. I’ve had non-Hispanic people (one German imbecile and a couple of American ones) yell at me for instinctively saying “Jesús” when somebody sneezed and try to go on yelling when I pointed out that a) it’s what we say in Spanish and b) it’s just the first part of the English “bless you”, there’s nothing about it which involves taking the Lord’s name in vain. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602/40 "2010-09-07T10:43:37Z")
I just asked my muslim co-worker why he named his son Mohammed. Reply was that it was done to honour the Prophet, and that this brings blessings on the child. Especially as it’s the first-born son in the family, so it’s also a way of paying respect to Allah for blessing the family with a son. But he said his preference was to use it as a middle name (i.e. in the western tradition of first name, middle name, surname) with a more distinctive first name. His wife disagreed and said she wanted it as a first name, and we all know how those kind of discussions end up 🙂 So there you go… one small anecdote from a devout British muslim. I agree that there’s going to be an endless variety of reasons why kids get called Mohammed though (e.g. rich uncle Mo’ is on his last legs, so naming our kid after him might help pay for that new extension on the back porch\*) \*This is partly (although only partly) why I have my given name [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-muslims-named-muhammad-or-abdullah/552602.md?page=3)