Abubakar
The servant/follower of the praised one, of Arabic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 912 living Americans carry the first name Abubakar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abubakar today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abubakar births was 2017 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abubakar. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
912
~ 1 in 375,827 Americans
Peak year
2017
58 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,627
Tracked since 1977
Popularity
Abubakar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abubakar from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 416 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Abubakar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abubakar by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Abubakar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abubakars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Minnesota, Ohio recorded the most babies named Abubakar, while California, Ohio, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 72 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abubakar
The name Abubakar has its roots in Arabic language and culture, originating from the Middle East region during the 6th century AD. It is derived from the Arabic words "Abu" meaning "father" and "Bakr" which is an Arabic name that means "young camel." The name Abubakar can be translated to mean "father of a young camel" or "father of the small."
The name gained significant prominence in Islamic history due to its association with Abu Bakr, one of the closest companions of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate after the Prophet's death in 632 AD. Abu Bakr's full name was Abdullah ibn Abi Quhafa, but he was widely known as Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, meaning "the truthful" or "the upright."
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Abubakar can be found in the Qur'an, where Abu Bakr is mentioned as a close companion of the Prophet Muhammad. The name also appears in various Islamic texts, including the Hadith, which are the recorded sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.
Throughout history, several notable figures bore the name Abubakar. These include Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912-1966), the first Prime Minister of independent Nigeria; Abubakar III (1457-1545), the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1618 to 1622; Abubakar Gumi (1922-1992), a prominent Islamic scholar and leader in northern Nigeria; Abubakar Shekau (born circa 1965-1975), the former leader of the Boko Haram militant group; and Abubakar II (1083-1131), the Sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1094 to 1105.
The name Abubakar holds a revered status in Islamic tradition and has been widely used across various cultures and regions influenced by Islam, particularly in the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia and Africa.
People
Abubakar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abubakar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abubakar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abubakar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 912 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abubakar going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 375,827 US residents.
Is Abubakar a common name?
We classify Abubakar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 921 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abubakar most popular?
The single biggest year for Abubakar was 2017, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abubakar is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Abubakar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abubakar in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.