NEW YORK — The blue-eyed Iowan shares a name with people of all ages and many races, in countries all over the globe. By most estimates, the name they share is the most common in the world.
And yet the Iowan feels isolated.
“The greatest challenges in my life are really tied to my name,” Khalid Mohamad El Khatib said.
Mohamad. That’s how Khatib spells it. From Afghanistan to Alaska, there are Mohameds, Mohammads, Mohammeds and Muhammads. They are a diverse and growing group — in the United States alone, more than 2,600 were born in 2015. Theirs has been called the most popular baby name in Oslo, Britain and Israel. They’re also stigmatized: In tests with identical résumés, candidates named Mohamed were invited to job interviews three times less often.
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