Babayev (Azerbaijani: Babayev, Russian: Баба́ев, Ukrainian: Баба́єв) is a Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Azerbaijani surname that comes from Turkic languages. 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:
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
Sukhan Babayev (1910–1995), First Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan in 1951–1958
Volodymyr Babayev (born 1952), Ukrainian scholar and politician
