Musa
Masculine · “Either "son”
Musa is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 6,109 boys against 31 girls since 1880.
Musa is the name the Qur'an gives to Moses, and it has been spoken in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Hausa, Mande and Urdu for well over a thousand years. Two open syllables, no consonant clusters, nothing to spell out twice — MOO-sah lands the same way in most languages. In the United States it is still climbing, carried largely by families in New York, Texas and California.
How old is the name Musa?
Musa first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Musa is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 6,000 people named Musa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Musa most popular?
Musa peaked in 2025, reaching #469 nationally. Today it ranks #469, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Musa appears on these lists:
- British invasion: UK favorites still rare in the US
- Names that begin and end with the same letter
- Arabic names in American use
- all guides
Works in Arabic families too:
Where it comes from
From Mōšeh to Musa
The story of Musa
Musa is the Arabic form of the Hebrew Mōšeh, reaching Arabic by way of the Greek and Syriac scriptures, and it is the form used throughout the Qur'an, where Mūsā is among the most frequently named prophets. From Arabic it traveled with Islam into Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Swahili and the languages of West Africa, where it took hold so thoroughly that it has been a common name in Mali, Senegal, Nigeria and Guinea for centuries — Mansa Musa, the fourteenth-century ruler of the Mali Empire, is the best-known bearer. The spellings Moussa, Moosa and Mousa are the same name arriving in English through French, South Asian and Levantine hands. Its recent rise in the United States, and its appearance on the charts in England and Wales, follow the same routes of migration.
Meaningscholars disagree
Either "son, child" (Egyptian) or "drawn out" (Hebrew)
The name goes back to Hebrew Mōšeh, and two readings compete. Many scholars connect it to the Egyptian element mose, "son of, born of", which appears in Egyptian names of the period. The Book of Exodus itself offers the other reading, tying the name to the Hebrew verb mashah, "to draw out", because the child was drawn out of the water. Neither has displaced the other.
How the name formed
- Mōšeh
- Mōusēs
- Mūsā
- Musa
- Moussa
Related forms: مُوسَى (Mūsā) · Moshe · Moses · Moussa · Moosa · Musa
Pronouncing Musa
MOO-sah
Stress on the first syllable, both vowels long and open. Some families say moo-SAH, and both are correct within their own traditions. The chief risk in English is hearing it as "Moose-uh" — a quick correction usually settles it for good.
Nicknames for Musa
Limited
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
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 2025651 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #469reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +14.6%651 in 2025, from 568
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.
Musa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- مُوسَى (Mūsā) in Arabic — same name
- Moshe in Hebrew — related form
- Moses in English — related form
- Moussa in French (West African use) — spelling variant
- Moosa in Urdu — transliteration
- Musa in Turkish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Texas, California. International figures from Office for National Statistics. Sources
Musas among us
people named Musa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,624 born in 2025 was named Musa
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 Efrain test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Musa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Efrain climbed just as high around 1981, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Efrain's path sketches the road Musa is walking now.
Musa is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Musa is headed
Musa looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 28% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Musa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Musa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, five letters, and spelled the way it sounds for most English speakers — little need to repeat or clarify.
- Recognized on sight across Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Swahili and West African naming traditions, and charting in England and Wales as well.
- A direct line to Moses, so it sits within a name family known to Muslim, Jewish and Christian readers alike.
- Short enough to need no nickname, which keeps the name the child is called and the name on the paperwork the same.
- It comes with a family of spellings — Moussa, Moosa, Mousa — all in real use. Whichever you pick, expect the occasional letter to arrive with a different one.
- The name identifies its bearer clearly as coming from a Muslim tradition. For many families that is precisely the point; it is worth deciding deliberately rather than by accident.
- In American classrooms he will likely be the only Musa, and many people around him will not immediately connect the name to Moses. That means introducing it often — usually a small, easy exchange.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Musa to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Musa
Masculine · #469 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Musas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,000 people named Musa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Musa in 2025?
- Musa ranks #469 among US boy names in 2025, with 651 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Musa?
- About 1 in every 2,624 US boys born in 2025 was named Musa — 651 in all.
- Will my child share the name Musa with classmates?
- Musa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Musa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alijah#469 · Fabian#468 · Kyson#471 · Kameron#466 · Azariah#472 · Quinn#466 · Ayaan#465 · Zayne#473
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Musa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Musa 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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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