Muhammad (name)

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Muhammad Given Name
"Muhammad" in a new genre of Islamic calligraphy started in the 17th century by Hafiz Osman.[1]
Gender	Male
Meaning	praised
Region of Origin	Arabic
Origin	Arabic
Related names	'Mohammad, Mohammed, Mohamed, Muhammed, Mahommed, Mehmed, Mehmet, Mahomet'
Popularity	Popular names page
Wikipedia articles	All pages beginning with Muhammad

ﷴ
Unicode "Muhammad" ligature

Muhammad is a common anglicized spelling of the Arabic given name مُحمد muḥammad, from the root Ḥ-M-D "praise."

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Statistics 3 List of prominent people named Muhammad 3.1 First names 3.2 Patronymics 3.3 Surnames 3.4 Other 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Etymology

The name "Muhammad" is the transliteration of an Arabic name that comes from the Arabic passive participle from the triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D ("praise"). A strict transliteration is muḥammad.

Other Arabic names from the same root include Mahmud, Ahmed, Hamid and al-Hamid, one of the 99 names of God meaning "The Blesser".

The name is also transliterated as Mohammad (primarily in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan), Mohammed (Arab World, primarily in North Africa), Mohamed(Arab World), Muhammed (Arab World), Mahommed, Mehmed (Albania), Mehmet (Albania, Turkey), Mahomet(Albania)^[2]. In Latin, it is Mahometus and Μωάμεθ (Moameth) in Greek. In Spanish is Mahoma, where the H has a mute sound, being pronounced "Maoma". In Chinese, it is written as 穆罕默德(Mùhǎnmòdé). In Russia, while the name of the Islamic prophet is typically spelled Мухаммад (Mukhammad), as a given name among the Muslims of Russia, the most common spelling is Магомед (Magomed). In Somali it is Maxamed.

"Muhammad" itself might not be the most common transliteration, but it is the most correct among the most used.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Statistics

Year	Rank in USA[3]	Rank in UK[3]	Rank in Canada
2004	681	54	c. 92[4]
2003	59
2002	61
2001
2000	622	71
1999	701	90
1998	725	91
1997
1996	774
1995	778
1994	862
1993	883
1992	903

According to the sixth edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia (2000), "Muhammad" is "probably the most common given name" in the world, including variations.^[5] It is estimated that more than 15 million people in the world bear the name Muhammad.^[6]

Muhammad is a popular surname in the United States, ranking 4,194 out of 88,799 for people of all ages in the 1990 census.^[3][4] According to the Social Security Administration, "Muhammad" is the 639th most popular first name for newborns in the United States in 2006. "Mohammad" and "Mohammed" are ranked 589th and 633th, respectively.^[7]

The BBC reported that "Muhammed" was the second most popular given names for baby boys in Britain, combining 14 spelling variations.^[8]

In May 2006, it was reported that statistics indicate that some 8,928 Danish Muslims carry the name "Muhammad" and that in 2004 alone, more than 167 new-born babies were registered with the prophet's name.^[9]

The worldwide popularity of the name Muhammad is mentioned in the 2007 film Superbad, wherein a character considers using the name on his fake ID.

[edit] List of prominent people named Muhammad

[edit] First names

Prominent people named "Muhammad" include:

Name	Lifespan	Description
6th century
Muhammad	570 – 632	Islamic prophet
Muhammad ibn Maslama	589 – 666
7th-8th century
Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr	631–658	Son of Abu Bakr, raised by Ali.
Muhammad ibn Talha
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī	~780–~850	Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and geographer, considered the father of algebra and algorithms.
9th–17th centuries
Muhammad Taqi(a.s)	811–835	ninth Shia Imam
Muhammad of Ghor	1162–1206	Persian conqueror and sultan between 1171 and 1206
Sultan Muhammad of Khwarezmia, also Khwarizm-Shah	???–1220	last ruler of Khwarezmia, committed suicide after being defeated by Genghis Khan
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi	1207–1273	Persian poet and Sufi mystic from Balkh, now in Afghanistan
Muhammad al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya	? – 1350	Sunni Islamic scholar
Mehmed I Çelebi	died 1421	sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Mehmed II	1432–1481	sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1444 to 1446, and later from 1451 to 1481
Askia Mohammad I	c. 1442-1538	king of the Songhai Empire (1493-1528)
Askia Mohammad Benkan		ruled the Songhai Empire from 1531 to 1537
Mehmed Pasha Sokollu	1505–1579	was the Grand Vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent and Selim II
Mehmed III	1566–1603	sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595–1603, notorious for having his sixteen brothers strangled upon his succession
Mehmed IV	1642–1693	sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687
18th-19th centuries
Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab	1703–1792	the founder of the Wahhabi movement
Muhammad Ali Pasha	1769–1849	viceroy of Egypt, sometimes considered the founder of modern Egypt
Mehmed VI	1861–1926	last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1918–1922
Mohammad Ali Jinnah	1876–1948	born into British India, helped found Pakistan, acting as as its Governor-General
Muhammad Iqbal	1877–1938	poet born into the British Raj, considered one of the founding fathers of Pakistan
Mohammed Nadir Shah	1880–1933	King of Afghanistan from 1929 until his assassination in 1933.
Mohammed Mossadegh	1882–1967	prime minister of Iran from 1951–1953
Mohammad Taghi Bahar	1886–1951	Iranian poet, politician, mathematician, logician, journalist, essayist, and historian
Wallace Fard Muhammad	1891?–after 1934	American founder of the black nationalist movement the Nation of Islam
Mohammed bin Laden	1895?–1968	Yemeni immigrant to Saudi Arabia, and wealthy investor, businessman and patriarch of the bin Laden family
Elijah Muhammad	1897–1975	American leader of the Nation of Islam, 1934–1975
Muhammad Allameh Tabatabaei	1892-1981	Shi'a scholar
20th-21st centuries
Muhammad Naguib	1901–1984	first President of Egypt, in 1953.
Mohammad Hossein Shahriar	1906–1988	Iranian poet, writing in Persian and Azerbaijani
Muhammad Ali Bogra	1909–1963	Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953–1955
Mehmet Shehu	1913–1981	general and politician in the communist Albanian Party of Labour
Mohammed Zahir Shah	1914–	the last King of Afghanistan from 1933 to 1973
Mohamed Anwar el-Sadat	1918–1981	Egyptian politician and President from 1970 to 1981
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi	1919–1980	the second and last Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 until 1979
Mohamed Siad Barre	1919/1921?–1995	president of Somalia from 1969 to 1991
Mohammed Dib	1920–2003	probably Algeria's most prolific and well-known writer.
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq	1924–1988	ruled Pakistan from 1977 to 1988 under martial law
Mohammed VI of Morocco	1963–	King of Morocco from 1999.
Mohammed Rafi	1924–1980	Indian Bollywood playback singer
Mohamed al-Fayed	1929–	Egyptian-born, British-based multi-millionaire.
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar	1929–	President of Pakistan from 1998–2001
Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas	1931–	Malaysian philosopher
Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim	1939–2003	assassinated Iraqi Shia
Ayatollah Mohammad Va'ez Abaee-Khorasani	1940?–2004	Iranian cleric and reformist politician
Muhammad Ali	1942–	American heavyweight boxing champion
Mohamed ElBaradei	1942–	Director General of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency
Mohammad Khatami	1943–	the President of Iran, 1997 to 2005
Mohammad Najibullah	1947–1996	President of Afghanistan from 1987 to 1992. He was assassinated in 1996.
Mohamed Abdelaziz	1947–	exiled president of Western Sahara since 1982
Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri	1947–	Muslim scholar, professor, poet and politician
Dwight Muhammad Qawi, born Dwight Braxton	1953–	former world boxing champion
Mohamed Mounir	1954–	Egyptian musician and actor
Mullah Mohammed Omar	1959–	Afghanistan's Talibani de facto Head of State from 1996–2001
Mohamed Fouad Abd El Hamid Hassan	1961–	Egyptian musician
Mohammad Hisham Mahmoud Mohammad Abbas	1963–	Egyptian musician
Abd al-rahman Muhammad Ahmed Abd al-Karim	1965–	British actor
Moustafa Ahmed Mohamed Hassan Amar	1966–	Egyptian musician and actor
Mohammad Kaif	1980–	Indian cricketer
Mohammad Ashraful	1984–	Bangladeshi cricketer
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif	1949	Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1990–1999
Muhammed Suiçmez	1984–	German musician

[edit] Patronymics

Patronymics are names taken directly from one's father's personal name. In Arabic, bint means "daughter of" and ibn and bin mean "son of". Conversely, abu means "father of" and umm means "mother of".

Name	Lifespan	Description
7th centuries
Fatimah bint Muhammad	(disputed)–632	The prophet's daughter
Qasim ibn Muhammad	?–605	The prophet's son
Ibrahim ibn Muhammad	?–?	The prophet's son
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm	?–?	Scholar

[edit] Surnames

Surnames are family names, usually shared by everyone in the family. In many cultures they are taken directly from father to his children.

Name	Lifespan	Description
20th century
Muhammad, John Allen		Born John Allen Williams
Muhammad, Idris		Born Leo Morris
Muhammad, Ruby
Muhammad, Kenny
Muhammad, Clara		Born Clara Evans
Muhammad, Elijah		Born Elijah Poole
Muhammad, Muhsin
Muhammad, Ghulam

[edit] Other

Other entities named Muhammad:

Mohammedia, a port city located 15 miles northeast of Casablanca in western Morocco

Mohammad's Army (Jaish-e-Mohammad) is a guerrilla organization that has been operating in Iraq against U.S.-led occupying forces since at least mid 2003

Jaish-e-Mohammed, another guerrilla organisation based in South Asia

a children's toy named "Mohammed" was at the heart of the Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case that led to arrest, conviction, and deportation of a British teacher in Khartoum.

[edit] See also

• Arabic name
• Wikipedia pages beginning with "Muhammad"

[edit] References