Muhammad is England’s top baby name for second year in a row 

The top baby names in England and Wales were revealed yesterday, with Muhammad taking the top spot for the second year in a row.
More than 5,721 boys were given the specific spelling of Muhammad in 2024, a rise of 23 per cent on last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Noah came in second, with Oliver in third, just as they did in 2023.
Olivia and Amelia held the top two spots for baby girl names for the third year in a row.  Olivia has been in the top three for girls’ names every year since 2006, with 2,761 girls given the name in 2024.
2024 marks the second time just one spelling of the Muhammad has topped the charts, although when all thirty-plus iterations are grouped together it has been the most common for over a decade, the Daily Mail’s analysis suggests.
Each year the ONS analyses the latest baby name data, uncovering trends in how certain names have fallen out of favour or soared in popularity.
Mohammed, a different spelling, entered the top 100 boys’ names for England and Wales 100 years ago, debuting at 91st in 1924.
Its prevalence dropped considerably in the lead up to and during WW2 but began to rise in the 1960s.
That particular iteration of the name was the only one to appear in the ONS’ top 100 data from 1924 until Mohammad joined in the early 1980s.
Muhammad, now the most popular of the trio, first broke into the top 100 in the mid-1980s and has seen the fastest growth of all three iterations since.
The name means ‘praiseworthy’ or ‘commendable’ and stems from the Arabic word ‘hamad’ meaning ‘to praise’ and is the name of the Muslim prophet.
Increasing sizes of Muslim communities across the UK fuelled by immigration, as well as the popularity of sporting figures such as Mo Farah, Mohamed Salah and Muhammad Ali are likely to have sparked the increase.
The ONS only provides statistics based on the exact spelling and does not group names, as some groupings are subjective and not straightforward.
In America, Liam and Olivia were the most popular names in 2024, marking their sixth consecutive year as the most popular baby names in the US.