About Mohammad
Mohammad is a form of Muhammad, the Arabic name meaning “praised” or “commendable.” It is particularly established in Persian and also appears as a Latin-letter transcription in several other languages. Its history is inseparable from the Prophet Muhammad and the spread of Islam, while its spoken form varies across languages.
Meaning and international forms
The name comes from the Arabic root ḥamida, meaning “to praise.” Muhammad expresses the idea of someone who is praised or commended. Mohammad preserves that meaning while representing a different conventional spelling in the Latin alphabet.
Ahmad and Ahmed belong to the same Arabic family of names, but their meaning is a superlative, “most praiseworthy.” Mohammad and Muhammad are forms of one name; Ahmad is a related name with a different grammatical formation.
Mohammad is the Persian form and is also used in transcribing Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, Bengali, Indonesian, and Malay usage. Mohammed and Mohamad are further familiar spellings in the wider family. These variations reflect the name’s passage through different languages, scripts, and systems of writing sounds in Latin letters.
The historical and religious connection
The Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 and died in Medina in 632. Muslims regard him as the final prophet of God. In Islamic tradition, his first revelation took place in 610, beginning the period of teaching that gave rise to Islam.
In 622 he and his followers emigrated from Mecca to Medina. This journey, known as the hijra, became the starting point of the Muslim calendar. Medina was an important centre for the growing community, and Mecca subsequently came to embrace Islam as well.
The name consequently carries a direct religious association across Muslim communities. Its continuing use reaches beyond any one national tradition: the historical figure is the same, while the local pronunciation and preferred spelling can differ considerably.
On returning to Mecca, Muhammad removed the idols from the Kaaba and rededicated the sanctuary to God. The city and shrine became central to the religious tradition through which his name spread far beyond the Arabian Peninsula.
Pronunciation and sound
In Persian, Mohammad is approximately mo-ham-MAD, with the stress at the end. In Arabic, the stress is in the middle, approximately mu-HAM-mad, and the h is a deeper throat sound than the usual English consonant. English usage commonly has the rhythm mu-HAM-ud.
The name has three syllables in these pronunciations. Its repeated m sounds give it a distinctive structure, even when the opening vowel and stressed syllable differ. A single spelling therefore accommodates more than one established spoken form.
American popularity
In the United States, Mohammad’s largest annual recorded total was 538 boys in 2022, when it ranked #556. In 2025, 529 boys received the name and it ranked #562. Those similar totals show sustained recent use of this particular spelling. Muhammad, Mohammed, and other forms are counted separately in the American series.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Existing Wiktionary material is attributed under CC BY-SA 4.0 where applicable. American popularity figures use the local Social Security Administration exact-spelling series; name-sex-year counts below five are omitted.
- Wiktionary: Mohammad (English)
- Wiktionary: Mohammad (Norwegian Bokmål)
- Wiktionary: Muhammad
- SSA national name data
- Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Birth of Islam
Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
How popular is Mohammad?
In 2025, Mohammad ranked #562 among boys in the United States, with 529 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1964; its largest annual count was 538 in 2022. 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.