Given name & surname
Abubakar
Abubakar is a surname from Arabic. It is used in English, Hausa, and Tausug.
Meaning & origin
How it developed
From Arabic أَبُو بَكْر; its root is Arabic ء ب و.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1977. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Abubakar through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 957
- 957 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2017
- 58 babies
- 2025
- 36
- #3,242 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −12%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 36 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 3,242 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 12.3% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 58 in 2017. In 2025, Minnesota and Texas shared the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (5 each). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,155 as a first name in 2020; 1,074 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Abubakar’s family of names
In Hausa usage, Abubakar has a conventional equivalent in the German form Abu Bakr.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Abubakar
- Abubakar Tafawa BalewaNigerian politician (1912-1966)
- Abubakar Shekauleader of a Nigerian militant group (1973-2021)
- Abubakar SalimBritish actor and game designerborn 1993
- Abubakar Atiku BaguduNigerian politicianborn 1961
- Abubakar BardeNigerian politician1938–2002
- Abubakar SiddiqueBangladeshi writer (1934–2023)
- Abubakar KyariNigerian politicianborn 1964
- Abubakar AuduNigerian politician (1947-2015)
- Abubakar GireiNigerian politicianborn 1954
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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