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Baba

#9,817 in 2025Boys' name

Old man

Baba has been given to 52 babies in the U.S. since 2001. In 2025 it ranked #9,817 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2017, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Baba, 2025

1 in 474,000

Baba over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0246818801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Baba: meaning, origin, and history

Old man

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Baba means

Baba means “old man”.

Origin, language, and formation

Baba is used in Hausa, Jamamadí and Latvian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Barbara.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Hausa, Baba is pronounced /bàː.bá/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 52 boys were recorded with the name Baba between 2001 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2017; its best national rank was #9,357 in 2001.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #12,230 in 2020 to #9,817 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Baba?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 244,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,817
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Baba sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Baba. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Babas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Baba was born before 2017 — so the typical Baba is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
34.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
52
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 34.6% of all recorded uses (18).

Is Baba rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
+2,413
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2017 (7)
Years since peak
8
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Very steady
0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#9,357
2001

Spellings of Baba

Baba is not the most common spelling — Bob is, with 43.7% against Baba's 0.02%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Baba around the world

Where Baba ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2013–2013
    #4,685
    in 2013
  • France
    1973–2025
    #1,835
    in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Baba by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,817
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 2,413
Best rank ever
#9,357
2001
Peak year
2017
7 that year
First recorded
2001
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
52
Count in 2025
7

Names similar to Baba

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SabaBabeBabakBabacarBaberBabajideBaboucarrMujtabaShabaAbaBabetteKairabaBabatundeMojtaba

Sibling names for Baba

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Baba

Top names of 2017, Baba's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2001Boys' names starting with BHausa Boy NamesHausa Names