I was curious about the ranking of the name “Mohammad” and two variant spellings among newborns in the United States. A baby name website provides graphs of name rankings based on US Census data — not that I’m having a baby anytime soon. It also shows rates in other countries, mostly in parts of Great Britain, namely England and Wales.

I found two interesting trends, one of which is not surprising. In the US, as opposed to Great Britain, there is a decline in the rankings of “Mohammad” and “Mohammed”, but not “Muhammad,” which has seen an impressive rise. In England and Wales, all three variations have risen in rankings steadily — the greatest increase being in “Muhammad.”

Here are the charts for “Mohammad”:

“Mohammed”

And, finally, “Muhammad”:

Though it is impossible to give an explanation just from the observed differences, that never stopped me. There are a few possible explanations, all of which I am too busy to follow up on:

1) The difference between the ranking of the names is that Arabs are more likely to use the “o” versions. South Asians and black Muslims (i.e. the greatest boxer ever) generally will go with the “u” one. Since 9/11 was an Arab affair, Arabs had more to worry about, especially since Pakistan and India are US allies. Alternatively, Arabs are generally more phenotypically assimilable so they think they can pull of “Mike” or “Joe” better, whereas South Asians and black Americans have no place to hide, generally-speaking. (for a breakdown in numbers of Muslims)

2) As for the differences between the US and the UK, immigration from certain, mainly Arab countries fell more in the US (I think), thereby leading to a natural decline in baby Mohammads.

3) Islamophobia found more cultural, social and political expression in the United States, pressuring American Muslims to seek assimilation. There have been polls showing that 40% of Americans are prejudiced against Muslims.

4) UK Muslims are more bad ass than American Muslims. The latter largely seek material comfort and sizable suburban McMansions over all else. UK Muslims are broker.

5) The British would not dare exclude South Asians since they are the source of the best food on the island.

Alas, a note: in the US, each variation of the spelling ranks in the top 600, I wonder what they would rank if they combined the three spellings and treated them as the same name, which they are. A conspiracy!

Any other explanations?

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