Muhammad has consolidated its place as the most popular name for boys born in England and Wales, topping the list for the third year in a row.
About 6,000 babies were given the name in 2025, almost 2,000 more than the second most popular name, Noah. They have been the top two since 2023. The gap was previously 1,580.
This year, Leo and Luca rose to third and fourth respectively, overtaking Arthur, Oliver and George.
Two variants of Muhammad also made the top 100, with Mohammed at 20 and Mohammad at 55, accounting for another 2,600 babies. The Office for National Statistics, which compiles the data, does not combine spellings.
Olivia remained the most popular girls’ name, followed by Lily, Amelia, Isla and Florence.
Muhammad has been in the top 10 since 2016, and in the top 100 since 1997, when it first entered.
Three spellings of the name were also in the top 100 in 1954, while the spelling Mohammed first entered the top 100 boys' names for England and Wales at 91st place in 1924.
The ONS has noted that many other top-10 boys’ and girls’ names have non-British origins, including Freya (Scandinavia), Leo, Luca and Isabella (Italy), and Noah (Hebrew).
It has previously said the dominance of the name Muhammad was due to a number of factors, including the growth of the Muslim community. Britain's Muslim population stands at nearly four million, or about 6 per cent of the UK as a whole.
The name remains dominant among Muslims, particularly for those living in the UK seeking a reminder of their heritage, while there has been increased diversity among baby boys' names generally.
Britain first experienced a significant influx of Muslim immigrants in the late 1800s, particularly in the port cities such as London, Cardiff and Liverpool. Many of these arrivals were from Yemen and Egypt, although their numbers remained in the thousands.
"There were Muslim seamen in Britain in the 19th century and into the 20th, with little enclaves dotted around various coastal towns," David Coleman, a University of Oxford professor who specialises in the demographic consequences of migration and the demography of ethnic minorities, told The National last year.
He said that migration to Britain increased in the 1950s and 1960s after the 1948 British Nationality Act, which the British government had passed and which confirmed that all British subjects were entitled to enter the UK without hindrance.
There were 900 million people potentially entitled to do so.
The rule was primarily introduced to ensure that people from New Zealand, Australia, and Canada who had close personal links with Britain were always able to return. People started to come from the West Indies and then Asia for employment opportunities when local people were reluctant to work in traditional industries such as textiles.
