Muhammad City?

Submitted by Bill (United States), Mar 3, 2007 at 15:10

Mr Pipes writes: "In Brussels, "Muhammad" has for some years been the most popular name given to infant boys"

The official list confirms this:
http://statbel.fgov.be/figures/d22a_fr.asp?r=8
(you may need to hit "reload" to get the table to format correctly)

However, lower down the page we read this qualification: "Dans beaucoup de familles islamiques, il est habituel de donner comme prénom "Mohamed" au premier fils venant à naître; cette tradition explique la grande fréquence de ce prénom dans la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale." ie "in many Islamic families it is usual to give the name "Mohamed" to the first-born male; this explains the high frequency of this name etc. "

There is no corresponding "grande fréquence" in any obviously Islamic girl's name (click on the link "filles" in "Région de Bruxelles-Capitale : filles et garçons"). Indeed, the number one name is Sarah, followed by Lina; then it becomes Islamic (Yasmine, Aya, Rania(?)).

So Brussels is not quite wall-to-wall Muslim yet. Though "Mohammed" tops the charts for all covered years, we can find some comfort in the fate of "Oussama", position 48 in 2000, rising ominously to 22 in 2001, but declining to 90 in 2003, with no instances thereafter.

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