ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The St. Cloud Hospital in Minnesota’s announcement that ‘Mohamed’ came third in the city’s most popular baby names list has triggered a wave of hate comments, while Muslims celebrated the city’s growing diversity.
“Our community is really growing and you can see that in hospitals,” Hudda Ibrahim, who wrote a book on Somali immigration to central Minnesota, told Star Tribune.
“People are keeping those traditional names.”
The hospital’s announcement was made at the beginning of 2018 as part of a tradition the hospital has kept for years.
Sixteen newborn boys went home from the hospital last year with the name Mohamed, making the name the third most popular name in the city, after Liam and Henry.
The name ‘Mohamed’ has several variations and is one of the most popular names worldwide for Muslim parents.
The St. Cloud area has the largest Somali population in the state outside the Twin Cities.
Somali-American families name their firstborn sons after the Prophet with hopes that their child will take after him, Ibrahim said.
Minnesota: Mohamed Now in Top 3 Baby Names of 2017 at St. Cloud Hospital https://t.co/F2hrsZcs0o
— Creeping Sharia (@creepingsharia) January 9, 2018
“Creeping Sharia,” tweeted another.
A list of the top 100 baby names for boys in the UK in 2016 found the name of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) at the top in both London and the West Midlands.