Mohammed has become the most popular male name in Oslo in the first survey to show it as the top choice for men and boys in a western European capital.
Six variants of the spelling of the name of the Islamic prophet combined to put it in first position in the general population, ahead of Jan, according to research by Statistics Norway.
The discovery comes almost a year after a conservative coalition was elected in Norway on a platform to tighten the country’s liberal asylum and immigration laws.
Mohammed in its various westernised forms has topped new-baby names for the past four years in the Norwegian capital. The name also leads the list for newborns in several other European capitals, including London, Amsterdam, Brussels and Copenhagen.
Jørgen Ouren, of Statistics Norway, found that out of Oslo’s total registered population of nearly 600,000, 4,801 boys and men were named Mohammed or its variations, ahead of Jan on 4,667 and Per on 4,155.
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“Usually I compile statistics on newborns, but a religious radio programme asked me about the whole of the population,” Mr Ouren said.
“Across the country, Jan is on top for boys and Anna for girls, but in Oslo, Mohammed is No 1,” he said.
The figure reflects the concentration of Norway’s community of 150,000 Muslims in Oslo. They are overwhelmingly immigrants and come mainly from Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq and Morocco — all countries where the name Mohammed is popular. The name does not feature so strongly in Germany, where the four million-strong Muslim community is mainly of Turkish origin.