Central Bureau of Statistics admits Mohammad Israel's most popular name
After original list omitted Muslim names from index of most popular name, CBS issues updated list with both Jewish and Muslim names; for boys Mohammed and Noam take first, for girls Jana and Noah.
The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) released new data showing the most popular boy's name in Israel is actually a name with Islamic origins – Mohammad.
The statistics were unveiled after a controversy erupted two months ago after the Administration of Border Crossings, Population, and Immigration released a list of most popular Israeli names and hid the fact that Mohammad topped the list in the boy's name category.
The list released by the CBS revealed the truth – that the Muslim name was the most popular in Israel within the last year.
Although Muslims are the minority in Israel, the prevalence of the name Mohammad among the Muslim community is 15.65% while the most popular Jewish boy's name Noam has a prevalence of 2.36%, which make Mohammad the most popular boy's name in Israel.
The CBS presented the most popular Jewish names alongside the most popular Muslim names, in separate lists.
The most popular Jewish girl's names were Noah, Shira and Tamar while the most popular Muslim girl's names were Jana, Miriam, and Aleen.
Other than Mohammad and Noam, the most popular Jewish boy's names were Uri, Itay, and Yossef while the most popular Muslim boy's names were Ahmed, Omar and Yusuf.
Derivates of Joseph was the only name to appear in both the Muslim and Jewish lists.
The names Amir and Omer were part of the top ten names for Muslim boys. These names are also prevalent among Jews in Israel however they did not make it to the top ten of the Jewish list.
