The word derives from the root ح م د (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic أَحْمَدَ (ʾaḥmad), from the verb حَمِدَ (ḥameda, "to thank or to praise"), non-past participle يَحْمَدُ (yaḥmadu).
[1][3] Over the centuries, some Islamic scholars have suggested the name's parallel is in the word 'Paraclete' from the Biblical text,[4][5][6] although this view is not universal considering translations, meanings and etymology.
[9] Christian orientalists such as W. Montgomery Watt, however, were able to show that the use of Ahmad as a proper name for "Muhammad" did not exist until well into the second Islamic century, previously being used only in an adjectival sense.
[10] Regarding Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammad, the Sirat Rasul Allah, Islamic scholar Alfred Guillaume wrote: "Coming back to the term "Ahmad," Muslims have suggested that Ahmad is the translation of periklutos, celebrated or the Praised One, which is a corruption of parakletos, the Paraclete of John XIV, XV and XVI.
John 14:17 states "[even] the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you.
Bell says ‘probably Jesus,’ but ‘sometimes taken to refer to the promised messenger who is identified with Muhammad.’ Secondly, and in consequence the intervening words, ‘bearing the name Ahmad,’ are grammatically superfluous.
In any case it was the Banu Isra'il to whom both Jesus and the ‘messenger’ came, and who regarded the mission as ‘sorcery.’ Once more, if we omit the phrase, ‘bearing the name Ahmad,’ and regard Muhammad as still drawing lessons from previous history, the dubious passage might refer to what happened at Pentecost, and other incidents recorded in the earlier chapters of the Acts.
[18] Moreover, a later interpolation of this passage to the Quran, just to serve as an ex eventu prove for the early Muslim scholars, has also been refuted in modern Islamic Studies.
Accordingly to find a text of the Gospels from which Ibn Ishaq could have drawn his quotation we must look for a version which differs from all others in displaying these characteristics.
"[27] "Note that by the middle of the 2nd century AH, Muslims already identified Muhammad with the Greek word "Paracletos" (Counsellor / Advocate) or the Aramaic translation "Menahhemana.
[God] has chosen the way of sending [the human race] Prophets, and it is for this reason that the Lord, having finished all those things that He had decided on beforehand, and having fore-announced His incarnation by way of His prophets, yet knowing that men still had need of assistance from God, promised to send the Holy Spirit, under the name of Paraclete, (Consoler), to console them in the distress and sorrow they felt at the departure of their Lord and Master.
More recently, this transliteration has become increasingly popular in the United States due to use by members of the African American community.