For the last 13 years it has reigned supreme as the most popular boy’s name in the land.
But in multicultural Britain, children named after the Muslim prophet Mohammed could soon be outnumbering the long-time favourite Jack.
In a reflection of the increasing influence of Islam on UK society, figures released by the Office of National Statistics yesterday showed that the most popular spelling of the name - Mohammed - had climbed five places to 17th in the annual list of most popular baby names.
But when the seven other spellings of the name are taken into account, the total amounted to 6,347 babies, making it the second-most popular name of the year - up from 5,936 last year.
Although Jack topped the list with 6,772 babies, that figure fell 156 on last year, meaning that if the trends were repeated next year, Mohammed and its variant spellings would be the most popular choice in England and Wales.
The last national census in 2001 put the UK Muslim population at 1.6million, but this will have grown substantially in the past five years.
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