Babatunde
A Yoruba name meaning "father has returned again" or "the returned father".
Name Census estimates that about 331 living Americans carry the first name Babatunde. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Babatunde today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Babatunde births was 1995 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Babatunde. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Babatunde with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
331
~ 1 in 1,035,512 Americans
Peak year
1995
20 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2010 SSA rank
#9,796
Tracked since 1971
Census
Babatunde in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,403 people with the first name Babatunde, which placed it at #9,768 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,768
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,403 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
98.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Babatunde
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Babatunde is Black at 98.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.0%) and Hispanic (0.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Babatunde described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Babatunde at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American98.1% · 1,376
- Two or more races1.0% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 8
- White0.3% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Popularity
Babatunde: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Babatunde from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 108 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Babatunde by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Babatunde during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Babatundes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Babatunde
The name Babatunde is of Yoruba origin, a language spoken by the Yoruba people who are primarily found in southwestern Nigeria, as well as parts of Benin and Togo. It is a compound name combining the Yoruba words "baba" meaning "father" and "tunde" which means "to return" or "to repeat". Thus, the name Babatunde can be interpreted as "father returns" or "the father has returned".
The Yoruba people have a rich cultural heritage dating back several centuries, and their naming traditions have played a significant role in preserving their history and values. The name Babatunde reflects the importance placed on the role of the father in Yoruba society, as well as the concept of reincarnation and the belief that a child may be the reincarnation of an ancestor.
While the exact origins of the name Babatunde are difficult to trace, it is believed to have been in use among the Yoruba people for centuries. The name has been mentioned in various Yoruba folktales and oral traditions, which have been passed down through generations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Babatunde can be found in the writings of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a Yoruba explorer and linguist who lived in the 19th century (1809-1891). Crowther played a significant role in documenting the Yoruba language and culture, and his works provide valuable insights into the naming traditions of the Yoruba people.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Babatunde. One of the most famous was Babatunde Olatunji (1927-2003), a Nigerian drummer and musician who was instrumental in introducing Yoruba music to the West. Another prominent individual was Babatunde Obafemi (1925-1994), a Nigerian writer and academic who made significant contributions to the field of African literature.
Other notable individuals with the name Babatunde include Babatunde Fashola (born 1963), a Nigerian politician and former Governor of Lagos State, and Babatunde Eleyinmi (born 1950), a Nigerian artist and sculptor known for his intricate wood carvings.
Additionally, the name Babatunde has been used in various works of literature and popular culture, further solidifying its place in the cultural landscape. For example, Babatunde is a character in the novel "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, one of the most celebrated works of African literature.
People
Babatunde + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Babatunde as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Babatunde: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Babatunde?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 331 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Babatunde going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,035,512 US residents.
Is Babatunde a common name?
We classify Babatunde as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 344 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Babatunde most popular?
The single biggest year for Babatunde was 1995, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Babatunde is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Babatunde in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,403 people with the name Babatunde, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,768 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Babatunde in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Babatunde?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Babatunde appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,405 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Babatunde?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Babatunde is Black at 98.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.0%) and Hispanic (0.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Babatunde most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Babatunde in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.1% (1,376 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Babatunde in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Babatunde a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Babatunde in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Babatunde still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Babatunde in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Babatunde can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Babatunde?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.