Kremlin Tries but Fails to Hide that Most Popular Boy’s Name for Newborns in Moscow Suburb has Become Mohammed

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 1 – According to the registration office in the Moscow city suburb of Lyubertsy, the most popular boy’s name so far this year is Mohammed, and among the most popular girl’s names is Fatima, two typical Muslim names but hardly consistent with the Kremlin’s promotion of the Russian world.

            When the ZAGS office in Lubertsy reported this outcome, a reflection of the influx of Central Asian and North Caucasian migrants to the capital and its surrounding oblast, the Russian blogosphere exploded with comments, many of which denounced the Kremlin for allowing so many Muslims into Russia (dialog.ua/russia/285326_1700752542).

            But the powers that be in Moscow had a solution: they ordered the Lyubertsy registration officials to take down the data. Unfortunately, for them, this information had been so widely publicized before the authorities could intervene, that their ban, as bans often do, has had the effect of attracting even more attention to this development.