There is only one strictly Muslim entry in the Top 100 commonly chosen names for baby boys in 2005 and it appears three times in the list: Mohammed (22nd), Muhammad (44th) and Mohammad (72nd).

The name given in honour of the Prophet Muhammad, the seventh-century founder of the Islamic faith, has become one of the most popular names for male babies in the United Kingdom. It first entered the Top 30 in 2000 and, according to data from the Office for National Statistics, it is now ranked 23rd.

“There are many different variations of spelling, but if a standard spelling existed it would probably have been top of the list,” says Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, an imam from Leicester and member of the Muslim Council of Britain.

The popularity of the Mohammed variant of the name is a result of over-usage by the media, he says. “The most accurate spelling is Muhammad and comes from replacing the Arabic script with its closest Latin equivalent.”

Muhammad, which means “one who is praiseworthy”, is often given to boys as an honorary prefix by parents and followed by the name by which they are commonly known. It is also regularly cited as the most common name in the world, though there is no concrete evidence for this.

According to data from CACI Information Solutions, men who are named Mohammed are five-and-a-half times more likely to go on holiday in Asia and twice as likely to live in Yorkshire than most other people.

They are also among the most likely to have a digital TV, to live in a household with six or more people and to shop at Asda.

Additionally, a man named Mohammed is most likely to be aged between 25 and 34, have an average salary of £25,000 and will tend to read The Guardian.

The leading name for girls born to Muslim parents was Aisha, translated as “wife of the Prophet” or “life”, and that’s in 110th place.

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