Mushka
Feminine · “Musk”
Mushka is a Chabad name, and its American record has a date attached: Chaya Mushka Schneerson, wife of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, died in February 1988, and the name's American peak is 1989.
How old is the name Mushka?
Mushka first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Mushka alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 500 people named Mushka are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mushka most popular?
Mushka peaked in 1989, reaching #4522 nationally. Today it ranks #5410, 888 places below that high. See the whole 1989 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Mushka
Chaya Mushka Schneerson, daughter of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe and wife of the seventh, died on 22 February 1988. Chabad-Lubavitch has a strong custom of naming children after a departed figure of the community, and the response was immediate and very large: girls born in Chabad families from 1988 onward were named Chaya Mushka in enormous numbers, and Mushka alone appears in the American records at a level it had never reached before. The peak in 1989 is one of the cleanest single-event effects in the whole data set, and the name has stayed in steady use in those communities since.
Meaningscholars disagree
Musk; a fragrance
Mushka is generally connected to a Slavic or Yiddish word from muscat or musk, giving a sense of fragrance — the same root behind nutmeg and musk in several European languages. Some sources instead treat it as a Yiddish diminutive with no separate meaning. Neither is fully established. In Chabad usage the name is almost always paired with Chaya, life, as Chaya Mushka.
Pronouncing Mushka
MOOSH-kah
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a long oo. There is no ambiguity within the communities that use it.
Nicknames for Mushka
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
- 1988
- Most girls named
- 202425 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4522reached in 1989
- Change vs 2024
- −8.0%23 in 2025, from 25
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.
Mushka in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- מושקא in Yiddish — transliteration
- מושקא in Hebrew — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Florida.
Mushkas among us
people named Mushka are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 69,881 born in 2025 was named Mushka
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 Kaisa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mushka's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kaisa climbed just as high around 1972, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kaisa's path sketches the road Mushka is walking now.
Mushka 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
Mushka beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mushka in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a specific, documented and recent namesake.
- Six letters and two syllables keep it compact.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- It marks the bearer's community very precisely, which is either the point or something to weigh.
- The meaning is not fully settled.
- Outside Chabad it is unfamiliar and will be spelled out.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Mushka to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Mushka? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Mushka
Feminine · #5410 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mushkas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Mushka are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mushka in 2025?
- Mushka ranks #5410 among US girl names in 2025, with 23 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mushka?
- About 1 in every 69,881 US girls born in 2025 was named Mushka — 23 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mushka with classmates?
- Mushka will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mushka
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aina#5410 · Sherry#5410 · Kathia#5410 · Taj#5410 · Analicia#5410 · Divya#5410 · Halimah#5410 · Leo#5410
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mushka? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mushka and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle