Babayev or Babaev (, , ) is a Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Azerbaijani masculine surname that is slavicised from Turkic languages; its feminine form is Babayeva or Babaeva. The word babay (бабай) means "grandfather" or "old man" in Tatar and Bashkir. Alternatively, it comes from Arabic word "bab" which means "door". There used to be a name "Babullah" which meant "door of God" or "door of heaven". It was very popular between Turkic nations before USSR. Grandchildren of Babs got "Babayev" (means of Bab or Bab's in Russian) surname. At the first stages it used to be "Babov", but later it became "Babayev" with the effect of Russian phonetics. The surname may refer to: Alaviyya Babayeva (1921–2014), Azerbaijani prose-writer, translator of contemporary Russian literature, and publicist Aleksandr Babayev (1923–1985), flying ace Arif Babayev, Azerbaijani film director Artour "Arteezy" Babaev (1996–present), Uzbek-Canadian professional Dota 2 player Chingiz Babayev (1964–1995) Azerbaijani officer Eli Babayev, Israeli football player Etibar Babayev (born 1950) Azerbaijani journalist, Farid Babayev (died 2007), Russian politician Firuddin Babayev (1929—1987), Azerbaijani scientist Heydar Babayev (born 1957), Azerbaijani politician Mirza Babayev (1913–2003), Azerbaijani movie actor and singer Nazim Babayev (born 1997), Azerbaijani track and field athlete Oleh Babayev (1965–2014), Ukrainian politician Rafig Babayev (1937–1994), Azerbaijani jazz composer and pianist Sabina Babayeva (born 1979), Azerbaijani singer Sukhan Babayev (1910–1995), First Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan in 1951–1958 Vladlen Babayev (born 1996), Russian football player Volodymyr Babayev (born 1952), Ukrainian scholar and politician References Azerbaijani-language surnames Russian-language surnames Uzbek-language surnames Turkic-language surnames Patronymic surnames