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Mustapha

#5,767 in 2025Boys' name

To choose, through مُصْطَفَى

Mustapha has been given to 654 babies in the U.S. since 1981. In 2025 it ranked #5,767 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2004, with 26 recorded.

Babies named Mustapha, 2025

1 in 207,000

Mustapha over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mustapha: meaning, origin, and history

To choose, through مُصْطَفَى

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Mustapha means

Mustapha belongs to the name family reached through Mustapha → مُصْطَفَى. Its meaning is “to choose”.

Origin, language, and formation

Mustapha is used in Hausa.

Mustapha comes through Arabic مُصْطَفَى.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include مُصْطَفَى.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Hausa, Mustapha is pronounced /mús.tà.fáː/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 654 boys were recorded with the name Mustapha between 1981 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 26 in 2004; its best national rank was #2,913 in 1993.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #5,886 in 2020 to #5,767 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,206 in 2015 to #5,767 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 Mustapha?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 207,000
16 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 107,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,767
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
143,620 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mustapha 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 143,620 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mustapha. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Mustaphas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mustapha was born before 2006 — so the typical Mustapha is around 19 today.

Median birth year
2006
About 19 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
30.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
67.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
654
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 30.1% of all recorded uses (197).

Is Mustapha 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
+1,353
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+119
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−561
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.89×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
61.5%
Peak was 2004 (26)
Years since peak
21
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
27.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,913
1993

Spellings of Mustapha

Mustapha is not the most common spelling — Mustafa is, with 91.9% against Mustapha's 8.1%.

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.

Where Mustapha is used

Across 1910–2025, Mustapha was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 349,319 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Georgia1 in —
  2. 2New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Mustapha has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Mustapha around the world

Where Mustapha 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
    1996–2025
    #2,952
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2007–2007
    #629
    in 2007
  • France
    1938–2025
    #1,383
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2011–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Mustapha by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,767
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 119
Best rank ever
#2,913
1993
Peak year
2004
26 that year
First recorded
1981
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
654
Count in 2025
16

Names similar to Mustapha

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

MustafoMoustaphaMusabMuscabMustafaMustafeMussaMusaabMustafaaMuslimMusiqMustafMusawerMussieMustaqeemAlphaMuseMusaMusashiRaphaMusawirMustafahMustaqimMussiah

Sibling names for Mustapha

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 Mustapha

Top names of 2004, Mustapha's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1993Boys' names starting with MHausa Boy NamesHausa Names