Mostafa
Masculine · “The chosen one”
Mostafa is the Egyptian and Persian way of writing the same name that North Africa writes Mustapha and Turkey writes Mustafa. The o is not an error: Egyptian Arabic really does say the vowel that way, and the spelling records it.
How old is the name Mostafa?
Mostafa first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Mostafa alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 700 people named Mostafa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mostafa most popular?
Mostafa peaked in 1985, reaching #2710 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 2,898 places below that high. See the whole 1985 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From muṣṭafā to Mostafa
The story of Mostafa
The epithet al-Mustafa belongs to Muhammad and made the name universal in the Muslim world. Its transliterations map onto the colonial languages: Mustapha in the French sphere of North and West Africa, Mustafa in Turkey and the Levant, Mostafa in Egypt and Iran, Mustafa in South Asia. Mostafa El-Sayed, Mostafa Chamran and Mostafa Madbouly are among the visible modern bearers of this spelling. American records show it from the 1960s with Egyptian and Iranian immigration and a peak in 1985, and the spelling itself identifies the community more precisely than the name does.
Meaning
The chosen one, the selected
From the Arabic root ṣ-f-w, to be pure or select, giving the passive participle of the eighth form — one who has been chosen. Al-Mustafa is a title of Muhammad. The reading is settled. The o of Mostafa reflects Egyptian and Persian vowel quality rather than classical Arabic, where the vowel is a u; the spelling is standard in Egypt and Iran.
How the name formed
- muṣṭafā
- Mustafa
- Mostafa
Related forms: مصطفى · مصطفی · Mustafa · Moustapha
Pronouncing Mostafa
MOS-tah-fah
Three syllables, stress on the first in Egyptian usage. The Arabic ṣ and ṭ are both emphatic consonants that English replaces with plain ones.
Nicknames for Mostafa
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1978
- Most boys named
- 201735 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2710reached in 1985
- Change vs 2024
- −5.9%16 in 2025, from 17
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mostafa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- مصطفى in Arabic — transliteration
- مصطفی in Persian — same name
- Mustafa in Turkish — spelling variant
- Moustapha in French — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New Jersey, Texas.
Mostafas among us
people named Mostafa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Mostafa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Walley test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mostafa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Walley climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Walley's path sketches the road Mostafa is walking now.
Mostafa sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Mostafa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mostafa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and carries a title of the Prophet.
- Mo is available as a plain English short form.
- It is recognized across the entire Muslim world.
- Mostafa, Mustafa and Mustapha are three transliterations of one name.
- The spelling identifies the family's region, which some want and some do not.
- It reads as unmistakably Muslim.
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What they receive
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Mostafa
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mostafas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Mostafa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mostafa in 2025?
- Mostafa ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mostafa?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Mostafa — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mostafa with classmates?
- Mostafa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mostafa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mostafa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mostafa and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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