Mohamed

About Mohamed

Mohamed is a widely used spelling of Muhammad, an Arabic name meaning “praised” or “commendable.” It is especially familiar in Egypt and Algeria and also appears in several other language traditions. Its contemporary bearers include footballer Mohamed Salah and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mohamed ElBaradei.

Meaning and international forms

Muhammad comes from the Arabic root connected with praise. Its importance in Muslim naming reflects the Prophet Muhammad, the seventh-century founder of Islam, who died in 632.

Mohamed and Muhammad represent the same Arabic name in Roman letters. Mohamed is also an established Dhivehi and Swahili form and a Malay and Somali variant. Mohammed, Mohammad, and Mohamad are closely related spellings, while Turkish Mehmet belongs to the wider international family.

Arabic Muhammad is approximately moo-HAM-mad, with stress in the middle and a stronger h sound than English normally uses. Regional pronunciations differ, so the Roman spelling Mohamed is encountered with more than one local vowel pattern.

Mo is a familiar public shortening, particularly recognizable through Mohamed Salah. The three-syllable full name remains central in formal use, including names in which it appears beside another given name.

Mohamed Salah

Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in June 2017. He became a central player in a team that returned to the top level of European and English football.

Salah scored in Liverpool's 2–0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 Champions League final in Madrid. Divock Origi scored the other goal, securing Liverpool's sixth European Cup.

The following season brought the 2019–20 English league championship, ending the club's thirty-year wait for that title. Salah also helped Liverpool win the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019. These achievements made his first name, often shortened to Mo in football coverage, familiar to a large international audience.

Mohamed ElBaradei

Mohamed ElBaradei served as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1997 to 2009. His work placed him at the center of international debates over nuclear weapons and the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

In 2005 he and the IAEA jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize. The award recognized efforts to prevent military misuse of nuclear energy while strengthening safe, internationally supervised civilian use.

ElBaradei trained in law in Egypt and earned a doctorate in international law at New York University in 1974. Before leading the agency, he worked in diplomacy and the United Nations, giving Mohamed another prominent association with international public service.

American popularity

The exact spelling Mohamed was recorded for 498 American boys in 2000 and 605 in 2010. Its largest recorded count came in 2014, with 712 births and a rank of No. 428.

In 2025, 568 boys received Mohamed, ranked No. 527. The American figures for this spelling are separate from those recorded for Muhammad, Mohammed, and other forms.

How popular is Mohamed?

In 2025, Mohamed ranked #527 among boys in the United States, with 568 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1943; its largest annual count was 712 in 2014. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.