Muhammad, Mohammed or Mohamed? Why One Name Has Many Spellings

Why Does One Name Have So Many Spellings?

Arabic writes this name with four letters: mim, ha, mim and dal. The three short vowels are small marks, and they are usually left out.

English has to spell those vowels with letters, so writers choose u or o, and a or e. The second mim carries a shadda, which doubles the sound, so some spellings use mm.

The letter ha (ح) is a breathy h with no English letter of its own. English simply writes h, which hides the difference from the softer ه.

Which Spelling Follows the Standard?

Muhammad is the standard transliteration in academic writing, often printed as Muḥammad. The dot under the h marks the Arabic letter ha.

Fully vowelled, the name is written مُحَمَّد. In Standard Arabic it sounds roughly like mu-ham-mad, with a doubled m and a breathy h for ح.

The other spellings are not mistakes. They reflect how the name is pronounced in different regions, and how other languages spell vowels.

Where Do the Different Spellings Come From?

What Do Md., Mohd. and M. Stand For?

They are all short forms of Muhammad, written in English letters. Wikipedia lists five of them: Md., Mohd., Muhd., Mhd. and a single M.

The same source lists Mohd as a short form used in South Asia. It is an abbreviation, not a separate name.

A short form has no Arabic letters of its own, so it has no separate value. To find the total, write out the full Arabic name, محمد, and then add the other parts of the name.

Which Spelling Is Most Common?

It depends on the country, and the records split the name across many spellings. Wikipedia gives a few clear examples.

• In the United States in 2006, Mohammad ranked 589th for newborn boys. Mohammed ranked 633rd, and Muhammad ranked 639th.
• In Finland, Mohamed is the most common form, used by 38% of people with the name.
• In England and Wales, Muhammad was the most popular boys’ name in 2023.

These lists count each spelling as a separate name. Added together, the forms rank higher than any single spelling does.

Why Do Many Pakistani Names Start With Muhammad?

In Pakistan, many boys have Muhammad as the first part of their given name. Wikipedia notes that this part is often not the name people use every day.

So a man named Muhammad Imran is often simply called Imran. The second part is the name his family and friends use.

This gives two possible Abjad totals. The full given name includes 92 for Muhammad, and the everyday name does not.

Neither total is wrong, but they are not the same number. Always note which form you used, so others can check your work.

The guide to names explains the other parts of a full name. If two totals for one person disagree, see why calculators give different values.

How Is the Name Written in Urdu?

Urdu uses the same four letters, محمد, so the total does not change. What changes is the style of the writing.

Urdu is usually written in the Nastaliq style. Nastaliq is more flowing than the Naskh style, but a calculator reads the same characters in both.

The second part of a compound name may use Urdu letters. In محمد علی, Ali ends in choti ye (ی), which counts as 10, just like Arabic ya.

How Do You Pronounce Muhammad?

The name has three syllables: mu, ham and mad. Say them slowly in this order:

1. mu: a short u, like the u in put.
2. ham: a breathy h from the throat for ح, then a short a.
3. mm: hold the m a little longer, because the shadda doubles it.
4. mad: a short a and a clear d to finish.

Spoken Arabic varies by region. Wikipedia gives an Egyptian Arabic form that stresses the middle syllable. Its vowels sound close to the a in cat.

These local sounds help explain the spread of spellings. A speaker who hears o or e writes Mohammed, while the standard form keeps Muhammad.

Does the Spelling Change the Value?

No, because the Arabic letters stay the same. Here is the full working in the Mashriqi system:

م 40 + ح 8 + م 40 + د 4 = 92

The shadda does not add a second mim, so محمّد with the mark still gives 92. Urdu writes the name with the same letters and the same total.

Do Related Names Share the Same Value?

Not always. Several names come from the same three-letter root, H-M-D, but they add other letters around it.

One pair is a neat coincidence. Ahmad (احمد) and Hamid (حامد) both give 53, because they use the same four letters in a different order.

Same Name or Not? A Quick Check

Decide whether each name below is a form of Muhammad. Then open the answer to see its Arabic spelling and total.

Which Spelling Should You Use?

Use the spelling on your official ID, and keep it the same on all documents. One consistent spelling is easier for everyone to match.

For the Abjad value, the English spelling does not matter at all. What matters is the Arabic spelling, which you can check in the Ilm-ul-Adad calculator.

To spell another name in Arabic, follow the guide on how to write your name in Arabic. To check two spellings side by side, use the value comparison tool.

Sources and Further Reading

• Muhammad (name), Wikipedia. Spelling variants, short forms, the Egyptian Arabic pronunciation and the root H-M-D.
• Pakistani name, Wikipedia. Muhammad as the first given name, often not the name in daily use.
• Urdu alphabet, Wikipedia. The Nastaliq style used for Urdu.
• Values come from this site’s tested engine. See the methodology.

Frequently Asked Questions