Musab
One brave in battle, victorious in conflict and strife.
Name Census estimates that about 845 living Americans carry the first name Musab. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Musab today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Musab births was 2023 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Musab. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Musab with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
845
~ 1 in 405,626 Americans
Peak year
2023
70 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,294
Tracked since 1984
Census
Musab in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 710 people with the first name Musab, which placed it at #16,016 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,016
National first-name rank
People counted
710
710 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Musab
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Musab is Black at 53.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.8%) and White (21.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Musab described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Musab at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.0% · 376
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.8% · 155
- White21.1% · 150
- Two or more races3.7% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Musab: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Musab from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 403 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Musab remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Musab 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 Musab during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Musabs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Minnesota, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Musab, while Pennsylvania, Washington, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Musab
The name Musab has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is a masculine name derived from the Arabic root word "sahib," which means "companion" or "friend." The name carries a connotation of loyalty, companionship, and close association.
One of the earliest and most significant historical references to the name Musab can be found in Islamic literature and tradition. Musab ibn Umair (594-624 CE) was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and played a crucial role in the early days of Islam. He was among the first ambassadors of Islam and was instrumental in spreading the faith in Medina.
The name Musab has been used throughout history by various notable figures. One of the earliest recorded examples is Musab ibn al-Zubayr (623-691 CE), a prominent military leader and statesman who played a significant role in the early Islamic caliphate. He was the son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, and was involved in several conflicts during the Second Islamic Civil War.
Another notable figure was Musab ibn Numayr (640-718 CE), a renowned Arab general and military commander during the Umayyad Caliphate. He was instrumental in the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana and the expansion of the caliphate into Central Asia.
In later centuries, the name Musab continued to be used by various individuals of historical significance. One such person was Musab ibn al-Zubayr (686-738 CE), a member of the Umayyad dynasty who briefly ruled as the Umayyad caliph in 744 CE.
More recently, Musab al-Zarqawi (1966-2006) was a Jordanian militant who founded the Islamist militant group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, which later became the group known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq. He played a significant role in the Iraqi insurgency against the United States and its allies during the Iraq War.
While these examples highlight some of the notable individuals who bore the name Musab throughout history, it is important to note that the name has been used by countless individuals across various cultures and regions influenced by Arabic language and Islamic traditions.
People
Musab + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Musab as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Musab: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Musab?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 845 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Musab 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 405,626 US residents.
Is Musab a common name?
We classify Musab as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 852 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Musab most popular?
The single biggest year for Musab was 2023, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Musab is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Musab in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 710 people with the name Musab, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,016 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Musab in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Musab?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Musab appears almost entirely male. Of the 707 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Musab?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Musab is Black at 53.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.8%) and White (21.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Musab most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Musab in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.0% (376 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Musab in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Musab a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Musab 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.
Is Musab still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Musab in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Musab can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people share the name Musab?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.