Global Ranking of the Most Common Male Name
The most common male name in the world in 2025 is Muhammad, with an estimated 150 million bearers across multiple spelling variations such as Mohammed, Mohamed, and Mohammad. This name leads global name databases compiled by national statistics agencies and international demographic research groups, reflecting its deep roots in Islamic culture and widespread use from North Africa to Southeast Asia. For a detailed breakdown of naming trends and population estimates, see the latest global name frequency analysis by the United Nations Statistics Division unstats.un.org.
Rankings consistently place Muhammad at the top, followed by names like Ali, Ahmad, and Omar in many regions, while in non-Muslim-majority countries, names such as John, James, and Robert remain highly frequent. The global spread of Muhammad as the most common male name is reinforced by high birth rates in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Indonesia, where the name is traditionally chosen for newborn boys. The World Bank's open data portal provides demographic indicators that help contextualize these naming patterns across different economies data.worldbank.org.
Regional Distribution and Cultural Factors
In the Middle East and North Africa, Muhammad dominates baby name lists in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, and Morocco, often combined with a father's or grandfather's name to form a longer given name. In South Asia, particularly Pakistan and Bangladesh, variations of Muhammad are the most frequently recorded male first names on national identity documents and voter rolls. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, also contributes massively to the global count of Muhammad, with government civil registration data showing the name's persistent popularity bps.go.id.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, countries like Nigeria, Senegal, and Mali record high frequencies of Muhammad and its local spelling variants, often alongside indigenous naming traditions. In parts of Central Asia and the Caucasus, the name remains a cultural marker of Islamic identity, while in Western countries, Muhammad appears less frequently in official statistics but still ranks highly among diaspora communities. The Pew Research Center's global religion and demographics projects offer detailed data on how religious affiliation shapes name choices across regions pewresearch.org.
Data Sources, Methodology, and Trends
Researchers determine the most common male name by aggregating birth registry data, census records, and large-scale surveys from national statistical offices and international organizations. Name frequency studies use standardized transliteration rules to group spelling variants of Muhammad, ensuring that counts across different languages and scripts are comparable. The United Nations Population Fund and national statistical agencies publish these datasets annually, allowing analysts to track shifts in naming popularity over time unfpa.org.
Recent trends show that while Muhammad remains the most common male name globally, some countries are seeing a rise in alternative names influenced by media, migration, and multicultural naming practices. In the United States and Europe, traditional Biblical and European names continue to dominate official records, but Muhammad has entered the top rankings in several countries with significant Muslim immigrant populations. The U.S. Social Security Administration's baby name database and the European Commission's Eurostat name statistics provide open-access tools for verifying these patterns ssa.gov.