Muhammed ranks at #1,657 in the SSA database with 2,533 recorded uses in this particular spelling — one variant among many in the American data for what is, by some estimates, the most common given name in the world.
Arabic origins: the praised one
Muhammed comes from the Arabic محمد (Muḥammad), derived from the root ḥ-m-d (ح م د), meaning "to praise" or "to commend." The name means "the praised one" or "the one worthy of praise" — a meaning of obvious theological significance in Islam, as it is the name of the Prophet and the founder of the religion. Arabic names built on root-based derivation tend to carry their meaning with unusual transparency, and Muhammad is the most prominent example: to name a son Muhammad is to give him a name that is both a description and an aspiration, a reminder of who he might become. The variant spelling Muhammed, with the doubled m, is common in many South Asian and East African naming traditions.
The most common name in the world, in many spellings
The SSA database records Muhammad, Mohammed, Mohammad, Muhammed, and other spellings as separate names, which means the full count of Muhammad-variants in American data is considerably higher than any single spelling suggests. Globally, estimates of the name's prevalence run into the hundreds of millions. The name's universality in Muslim communities across Arabic-speaking countries, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the Western diaspora makes it one of the few names that crosses regional and linguistic boundaries while retaining a clear, shared meaning and significance.
Who chooses Muhammed today
In the United States, parents who name a son Muhammed are almost invariably Muslim and are making a deliberate choice to honor the Prophet by using his name. The choice of the Muhammed spelling versus Mohammed or Muhammad often reflects the family's regional or national background — South Asian families tend toward slightly different transliteration conventions than Arab families, for instance. The name carries enormous weight within Muslim communities and is understood as both a religious statement and a connection to the global ummah.