TUNIS, January 29, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Mariam (the Arabic name for Mary) has become the most popular baby female name in Tunisia with almost all Muslim couples in the north African country naming their newborn babies after the mother of Jesus Christ.

“Statistics registry shows that Mariam tops the list of baby female names followed by Shayma and Khawla,” Soaad, a nurse at a paediatric hospital, told IslamOnline.net Sunday, January 29.

“As for males, the prophet’s name Muhammad is matchless, while the names of his companions hold onto second place,” she added.

She said Mariam has knocked out names of foreign and even Arab roots like Nijma, Qamar.

Sociologist Mahdi Mabrouk said Mariam has scored a hat trick in the name game because it symbolizes chastity of the Virgin Mary.

“They want their girls to be like Mary and the wives of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in their chastity and demureness,” he said.

He said baby names in Tunisia is just like fashion.

“In 1980s, we had a torrent of Muslim names like Mosaab, Ammar, Belal, Aisah and Khadija, while in 1990s Turkish names like Savinaz had the lead,” explained Mabrouk.

“Blessed Dreams”

Tunisians expecting babies delight at dreams in which they see themselves naming the newborn babies a particular name.

“I chose Mariam for my baby girl and I was afraid that my husband would disagree,” Aisha, 28, recalled.

“But to my surprise, my husband was over the moon with the name and told me that his mother dreamt that we had a baby named Mariam.”

Fatima saw during her late months of pregnancy that she was playing with a son named Ahmad.

“I didn’t think twice when I gave birth to my son and name him Ahmad at once,” she said jovially.