Israel’s number one baby name is ...Mohamed - but authorities tried to fix annual official list to keep it secret
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Israel is late to the party. This has already occurred in England and Norway. Stay tuned as the same occurrence hits other Western countries.
Mohamed has been revealed as the most popular baby name in Israel – despite authorities trying to keep it hidden from the annual official list.
The Population and Immigration Authority has this week published a list of the 10 most popular boys and girls names of those born in Israel this year.
However, it has omitted Arabic baby names from the list, including Mohamed which should have topped the boys’ list and Ahmed which should have placed ninth.
Instead, the authority claims that the most commonly used Israeli boys’ names over the last 12 months were: Yosef, Daniel, Uri, Itai, Omer, Adam, Noam, Ariel, Eitan, David.
Nowhere in its statement, which was released ahead of the Jewish New Year, did it note the fact that Arabic baby names had been withheld.
It lists the most popular girls’ name as Tamar, which pushes Noa into second place after spending 14 years in the top spot.
Other popular girls’ names include: Shira, Adele, Talya, Yael, Lian, Miriam, Maya and Avigayil. Lian, Miriam (Maryam) and Maya are used by both Jews and Arabs.
However, the authority has come under fire after being accused by Israeli news service Haaretz of omitting Arabic names from the official list of boys’ names.
The news service said several Arab names were statistically more popular than the ones on the official list - including Mohamed.
The Population and Immigration Authority responded by saying the list reflected the media’s interest in popular Hebrew names.
It also said it had no intention of skewing the facts, with spokesman Sabine Hadad adding: ’There is no plot to deliberately hide information.’
The authority put out a similar list last year, also without citing the fact that it included only Hebrew names.
According to the authority, 176,230 babies were born in Israel this year — 90,646 boys and 85,584 girls.
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reported in May that 8.18 million people live in Israel, including a population of over six million Jews.
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