Baba

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Bába in SK Slovakia.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 24 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Baba is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Hindi given name225K records spelled Baba22 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Nigeria, United States, Pakistan

  Languages: Hindi, Assamese, Urdu

  Also written বাবা, Babaa, බබා, Bãbã, Bâbă

• English given name145K records spelled Baba48 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Nigeria, India, United States, Germany

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written B'Aba, Baeba, Ba-Ba, Babá, Bâbâ

• French given name51K records spelled Baba35 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, Nigeria, United States

  Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Babă, Babá, Băbā, Bába, Bâbă

• Turkish given name43K records spelled Baba8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Nigeria, Azerbaijan

  Languages: Turkish, Turkmen, Azerbaijani

  Also written Bâbâ, Babá, Bãbã, Bąba, Bâbã

• Japanese given name33K records spelled Baba2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Japan, Nigeria, India, United States

  Also written Ba-Ba

• a separate given name32K records spelled Baba9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Morocco, Nigeria

  Also written Bábá, Bâbâ, Bába, Bābā, Bąba

• Telugu given name23K records spelled Baba9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India

  Also written Bba, బాబా, బాబి, బాబీ, బాబ్

66 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Baba is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swahili, ‘the father’; nickname of Muḥammad al-Ghabaʾ, a Muslim leader of Kumasi

  as a name·African Muslim Names

• In German, from Slavic baba 'grandmother; old woman'

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In English, A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Romanian, tc. tata". 1. Bab( -Novac, generalul lui Mihai Viteazul ; Baba-Vergu ar. (Cara 34), corespunde numelor aromlne formate cu Papa- ; Babd- Celebi, post. mold. (RI X 275). 2. Babac b. (Cat ; Tis), < subst. babac ; BObaeesti, fam., olt. (AO XV 63) ; Baba/che (16 B V 276) ; -chi din Manicesti (16 B VI 127).

  as a name·Dictionar Onomastic Rominesc

• Plg. lat. Bobas mšk. (J. Endzellns, 1956, p. 90), Bab pv. (ten pat). Šiuos ir kt. lat. vv. J. Endzelynas sieja su lat. baba „boba“. Dar plg. lenk. avd. Baba (SSNO 1 74), Baba, Babek, Babin ir kt. (S. Rospond, 1967, p. 11), rus. Баба (H. Тупиков, 1903, c. 33). Tačiau žr. Bdbys.

  as a name·Lietuvių pavardžių žodynas (Dictionary of Lithuanian Surnames)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 93 years between 1910–2015. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Baba Rabbab. 201PSSamaritan high priest
• Baba Taherb. 947IRPersian poet
• Baba Faridb. 1175PK12th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic
• Baba Budha Jib. 1506INSikh saint
• Baba Padamanjib. 1831INMarathi writer, Christian Preacher
• Baba Amteb. 1914INIndian freedom fighter, social worker (1914–2008)
• Baba Adamub. 1979GHGhanaian footballer
• Baba Diawarab. 1988SNSenegalese footballer
• Baba IshakTurkmen rebel
• Baba ShivUSAmerican academic

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 349 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Baba?

We estimate roughly 1.3 thousand people bear Baba (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Baba have the most bearers?

Baba is most frequently recorded in Nigeria, where it is most often spelled baba.

Is Baba a male or female name?

Baba is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Baba mean?

Recorded meaning: Kiswahili/Fulani/Yoruba and other West African languages: 'father' or 'elder'