Frequency: (120)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Muslim: status name from Arabic imām, literally ‘one who leads the way’, an honorific title for one who leads prayers in a mosque, also applied to the founders of Islamic law schools. Among Shiite Muslims the title imām is applied to the spiritual leaders descended from Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and her husband Ali, the fourth and last of the ‘rightly guided’ khalifs (see Ali).
GIVEN NAMES: Muslim 87%. Syed (8), Hussain (3), Mohammad (3), Ali (2), Ashraf (2), Hasan (2), Ibrahim (2), Khaled (2), Khalifa (2), Lubna (2), Mohamed (2), Mohmed (2).
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
