Muhammad was the most popular boys' name in England and Wales for a third consecutive year in 2025, with about 6,000 babies given the name. Noah stayed in second place, but the margin widened only slightly as Muhammad finished nearly 2,000 names ahead.
The latest baby names rankings also showed Olivia holding on as the top girls' name, followed by Lily, Amelia, Isla and Florence. It is a familiar pattern at the top, but one that still carries weight because the numbers are large and the lead has now lasted three years.
That matters now because the figures come from the Office for National Statistics, which has released a fresh look at how parents in England and Wales are choosing names. Muhammad has sat in the top 10 since 2016 and first entered the top 100 boys' names in 1997, a climb that has turned a once-rare choice into the clear leader.
The scale becomes even clearer when the spellings are separated. The Office for National Statistics does not combine different versions of the same name, so Mohammed ranked 20th and Mohammad ranked 55th rather than being folded into Muhammad's total. Together, those two spellings accounted for around 2,600 additional babies in 2025, which means the name in all its forms was given to far more babies than the single ranking suggests.
That split is part of the story. Muhammad's rise is tied to growing diversity in baby names and to the size of Britain's Muslim population, which stands at nearly four million, or about six per cent of the UK. The name's long run also sits on a deeper history: Muhammad first entered the top 100 in 1997, Mohammed appeared there as far back as 1924 at 91st place, and all three spellings were in the top 100 by 1954.
The broader pattern is not confined to one spelling or one decade. David Coleman has described Muslim seamen in Britain in the 19th century and into the 20th, with little enclaves dotted around various coastal towns, while the first major influx of Muslim immigrants came in the late 1800s, especially in London, Cardiff and Liverpool. Migration increased again in the 1950s and 1960s after the British Nationality Act, and the baby-name list now reflects that long history as well as more recent change.
Leo climbed to third place in 2025 and Luca rose to fourth, pushing Arthur, Oliver and George down the list. If the Office for National Statistics ever counted Muhammad, Mohammed and Mohammad as one name, the top spot would look even more decisive than it already does.
