BANGKOK,(Saba)- Saddam" had become a popular name around Muslim communities in southern Thailand for the ex-Iraqi president's firm stance against invaders, the state-run Thai News Agency (TNA) reported on Saturday.

"A whole generation of little 'Saddams' is growing up in Thailand's southern border region, with the name now being one of the most popular for Thai Muslim boys," said the report.

Muslims in southern Thailand often named their baby boys after important Islamic leaders and remarkable figures in Muslim history, TNA quoted the Deputy President of the Yala Provincial Islamic Committee Nimoo Makaje as saying.

The names were often Arabic ones, Nimoo said.

He noted that the name "Saddam" had noticeably grown in popularity since
the invasion of Iraq by the United States early this year.

Nimoo owned the growing popularity of the name to its meaning of clashing or confronting.