Mustapha
Masculine · “The chosen one”
Muṣṭafā means the chosen one, and it is one of the standard epithets of Muhammad — al-Muṣṭafā, the one selected. It is among the commonest men's names in the Muslim world, and the ph spelling is the French transliteration.
How old is the name Mustapha?
Mustapha first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Mustapha alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 600 people named Mustapha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mustapha most popular?
Mustapha peaked in 1993, reaching #2865 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 2,743 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From muṣṭafā to Mustapha
The story of Mustapha
The epithet is applied to Muhammad throughout Islamic devotional literature, and the name has been used across the Muslim world for that reason. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Turkish republic; Mustafa I and IV were Ottoman sultans. The ph spelling belongs to the French colonial sphere — Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Mali — and reached American records with immigration from those countries and from Lebanon. Its American peak in 1993 also reflects African American Muslim naming, which has used the whole Arabic name stock since the 1950s.
Meaning
The chosen one, the selected
From the Arabic root ṣ-f-w, to be pure or select, in the passive participle of the eighth form — one who has been chosen. The reading is settled. Al-Mustafa is a title of Muhammad. The ph of Mustapha represents the Arabic f and is a French transliteration convention, which is why the spelling is standard in North and West Africa and rare in South Asia.
How the name formed
- muṣṭafā
- Mustafa
- Mustapha
Related forms: مصطفى · Mustafa · مصطفیٰ · Moustapha
Pronouncing Mustapha
moo-STAH-fah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. The ph is an f. The Arabic ṣ and ṭ are both emphatic consonants that English replaces with plain ones.
Nicknames for Mustapha
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
- 1981
- Most boys named
- 200426 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2865reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%16 in 2025, from 12
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.
Mustapha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- مصطفى in Arabic — transliteration
- Mustafa in Turkish — spelling variant
- مصطفیٰ in Urdu — same name
- Moustapha in Wolof — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Mustaphas among us
people named Mustapha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Mustapha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mustapha
- #5608
- Mustapha on the 2025 chart
- #596
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mustapha went to 16 boys in 2025, but Mustafa is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 355, which makes it the 596th most-given boys’ name of the year — 5,012 places above the chart.
- Mustafa339
- Mustapha16
About 1 boy in 4,811 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 106,755 for Mustapha itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Marzell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mustapha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marzell climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marzell's path sketches the road Mustapha is walking now.
Mustapha 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
Mustapha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mustapha 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.
- It is recognized across the entire Muslim world.
- Three open syllables are easy for an English speaker.
- The ph will be misread as a p by some English speakers.
- Mustafa, Mustapha and Moustapha are three transliterations of one name.
- It reads as unmistakably Muslim, which some families weigh.
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What they receive
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Mustapha
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mustaphas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Mustapha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mustapha?
- Mustapha is one of 2 recorded spellings. Mustafa is the more common one — 339 births in 2025 against 16 for Mustapha.
- How popular is the name Mustapha in 2025?
- Mustapha ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mustapha?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Mustapha — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mustapha with classmates?
- Mustapha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mustapha
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 Mustapha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mustapha and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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