Rabat - Lina, Aya, Mohamed, and Adam were among the top ten popular names for newborn babies in Brussels last year, according to figures from Belgium’s economy ministry.
Rabat – Lina, Aya, Mohamed, and Adam were among the top ten popular names for newborn babies in Brussels last year, according to figures from Belgium’s economy ministry.
The figures revealed that Lina was the most popular name for girls and Adam for boys. Adam moved ahead of Mohamed as the most popular boys’ name last year.
Mohamed remains in second place, followed by Rayan. Amir ranked seventh.
Lina moved up from third place, followed by last year’s favorite, Aya. Sarah came in third, followed by Sofia and Nour.
In Flanders, however, Emma and Lucas were the most popular names for newborn babies last year. In second place was Elise for girls and Liam for boys, followed by Louise and Vince.
Belgium’s economy ministry noted that the Arab names have become the most popular names in Brussels over the past 20 years.
Belgium-wide, Thomas has been the most common male given name since the 1990s, Kevin in the 1980s, David in the 1970s, and Patrick in the 1960s. Before that, Jean was the most popular name since the 1930’s.
Multiple local media reports suggested that the statistics are broken down by gender and region. Heavy immigration from Morocco and other Muslim countries has left its traces, as Mohamed has been the most common male name in the Brussels Region recently.
Many people of Muslim origin name their first baby boy Mohamed: the name of the last Prophet of Islam.
