For the third year in a row, Muhammad is the most popular name for baby boys born in 2025 in England and Wales.

In 2025, 5,957 boys were named ‘Muhammad’, while ‘Noah’ was the second most popular, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). ‘Leo’ moved up two spots to third place, passing ‘Oliver’ and ‘Arthur’.

This spelling of the Prophet’s name (PBUH) has been among the top 10 most popular names for baby boys in England and Wales since 2016.

Although ‘Muhammad’ by itself did not lead the rankings before 2023, when you add other spellings of the name, it has been at the top of the charts for more than ten years.

Two other spellings of the name are also in the top 100 for 2024 — ‘Mohammed’ (20) and ‘Mohammad’ (55).

Looking at specific regions, Muhammad is the most popular boys’ name in four out of nine areas in England: North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, and London. It is also in the top ten for three other regions: East Midlands, South East, and East of England.

The names ‘Musa’ and ‘Yusuf’ are both ranked 64th, with 798 boys given each name.‘Ibrahim’ (70) and ‘Yahya’ (81) make up the other Muslim names in the top 100.

‘Layla’ at number 50 is the highest-ranking Muslim-sounding name for baby girls in England and Wales, closely followed by ‘Maryam’ at 55. ‘Zara’ (73) and ‘Fatima’ (79) are also in the top 100 again, with ‘Anaya’ a new entry (86).

ONS top 100

A hundred years ago, the name ‘Mohammed’ first appeared in the ONS Top 100, debuting at number 91 in 1924.

It has been in the top 100 most popular names for baby boys every decade from 1924 to 1994, and every year since 1996. In 1954, three different spellings of the name were also in the top 100.

The ONS counts each spelling of a name separately and has said that combining similar spellings would make things confusing, since it would require making a ‘subjective decision’ about names.

“So to make a fair comparison either all names should be treated separately or all names on the list should be combined with names that have a similar spelling,” it said in a blog in 2016.

Other Muslim names were also popular in earlier decades. For example, ‘Abdul’ was the only Muslim name in the 1934 ONS list.