Magomed Aliskhanov

Muhammad (), also spelled Muhammed or Muhamad or Mohammad or Mohammed or Mohamed or in a variety of other ways, is an Arabic given male name literally meaning 'Praiseworthy'. The name comes from the passive participle of the Arabic verb (حَمَّدَ), meaning 'to praise', which itself comes from the triconsonantal Semitic root Ḥ-M-D. Believed to be the most popular name in the world, by 2014 it was estimated to have been given to 150 million men and boys.

The name is banned for newborn children, in the Xinjiang region of China since 2017, as well as for the Ahmadi community in Pakistan.

Lexicology

The name ' is the standard, primary transliteration of the Arabic given name, , that comes from the Arabic passive participle of ''ḥammada'' (), ''praise'', and further from triconsonantal Semitic root Ḥ-M-D (''praise''); hence ''praised, or praiseworthy''. However, its actual pronunciation differs colloquially, for example, in Egyptian Arabic: , while in exclusively religious contexts, talking about Islam: .

The name has one of the highest numbers of English spelling variants in the world. Other Arabic names from the same root include Mahmud, Ahmed, Hamed, Tahmid and Hamid.

Transliterations

The name may be abbreviated to ''Md.'', ''Mohd.'', ''Muhd.'', ''Mhd.'', or simply ''M.'' because of its utmost meaning, its popularity has meant that it can become hard to distinguish people when there is a multitude with the same name. In some cases it may be to keep a personal name less tied to a religious context. This is only done if the person has a second given name. Some men who have ''Muhammad'' (or variant) as a first name choose not to use it, as it is such a common name. Instead they use another given name. For example, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak, Siad Barre, Zia-ul-Haq, Ayub Khan , Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif use their second given name.

Statistics

According to the sixth edition of '' The Columbia Encyclopedia'' (2000), ''Muhammad'' is probably the most common given name in the world, including variations. '' The Independent'' reported in 2014 that more than 150 million men and boys in the world bear the name ''Muhammad'', which would make it the most popular name in the world.

It is sometimes reported that ''Muhammad'' is the most popular boy’s name in all of Britain; however, this is based on combining multiple spelling variations such as ''Mohammed'', but not combining spelling variants of popular British names such as Ollie and Olly. Based on statistics for the 100 most popular boys' names in England and Wales, the combined count for Muhammad and Mohammed (6233) was higher than Oliver and Olly (6049), but lower than the combined count for Harry and Henry (7684).

''Mohammed'' and ''Mohamed'' were the most popular baby name in ''département'' Seine-Saint-Denis (2002, 2008) and in Marseilles (2007, 2009), France.
Similarly, since 2008 it has been the most popular baby boy name in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium's most Muslim-populated cities.

In May 2006, it was reported that statistics indicate that some 8,928 Danish Muslims carry the name ''Muhammad'' and that in 2004 alone, 167 new-born babies were registered.

In 2009 ''Muhammad'', the most common spelling variant, was ranked 430th in the US. According to the Social Security Administration, ''Mohammad'' was ranked 589th, ''Mohammed'' 633rd, and ''Muhammad'' the 639th most popular first name for newborns in 2006. In the 1990 United States census, the Muhammad variant of the spelling was ranked 4,194 out of 88,799 for people of all ages.Unless otherwise noted, figures are from http://www.name-stats.com/search.php?subject=Muhammad&submit=Search. ''They don't include different forms of spelling except for 2009 and 2010 for the UK.''

In April 2017, the Chinese government prohibited parents from choosing the name Muhammad as the given name for a child. The list included more than two dozen names and was targeted at the 10 million Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang.

If all variants of Muhammad are counted, there are 15,723 people in Finland named Muhammad, accounting for 0.7% of the Finnish male population. The most common spelling is Mohamed, accounting for 38% of the Muhammad name carriers.
it is worth noticing that approximately 60% of people named Muhammad live in Pakistan, Middle East and North Africa.

Given name

Mamadou

*Mamadou (mansa), ruler of the Mali Empire
* Mamadou Blaise Sangaré, Malian politician, president of the Social Democratic Convention
* Mamadou Boye Bah, Guinean economist and politician
*Mamadou Kamara Dékamo, Congo-Brazzaville politician and diplomat
* Mamadou Dembelé, Malian politician
* Mamadou Dia, Senegalese politician, former prime minister
*Mamadou Diop (politician), Senegalese politician, former mayor of Dakar
* Mamadou Koulibaly, Ivorian politician
* Mamadou Lamine Loum, Senegalese politician, former prime minister
*Mamadou Lamine Traoré, Malian politician
* Mamadou Maidah, Nigerien politician and diplomat
* Mamadou Ouédraogo, French Upper Volta (present-day Burkina Faso) politician
*Mamadou Samba Barry, Burkina Faso politician, secretary of the New Social Democracy party
*Mamadou Seck (politician), Senegalese politician, president of the National Assembly of Senegal
*Mamadou Sylla, Guinean judge and businessman
* Mamadou Tandja, Nigerien politician, former president
*Mamadou Alimou Diallo, Guinean footballer
*Mamadou Bagayoko, Malian footballer
*Mamadou Bagayoko (footballer, born 1989), Ivorian footballer
*Mamadou Bah, Guinean footballer
*Mamadou Baldé

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