Afeni
A feminine name of Swahili origin meaning "the air breathed upon childbirth".
Name Census estimates that about 71 living Americans carry the first name Afeni. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Afeni today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Afeni births was 2017 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Afeni. 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 Afeni with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Afeni. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
71
~ 1 in 4,827,526 Americans
Peak year
2017
12 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,619
Tracked since 1970
Popularity
Afeni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Afeni from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 35 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Afeni remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Afeni 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 Afeni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Afeni
The name Afeni has its origins in the Yoruba language, spoken primarily in parts of West Africa, including Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The name is derived from the Yoruba word "afe," which means "prosperity" or "wealth." The name Afeni is believed to have originated during the ancient Yoruba civilization, which dates back to the 11th century.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Afeni can be found in the Odu Ifa, a sacred literary corpus of the Yoruba people that contains stories, proverbs, and divination verses. While the name itself is not directly referenced in these texts, the concept of prosperity and abundance, which the name represents, is a recurring theme in Yoruba spiritual and cultural traditions.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Afeni. One of the earliest recorded examples is Afeni Shakur, the mother of the renowned rapper and activist Tupac Shakur. Afeni Shakur was born Alice Faye Williams in 1947 and was a prominent member of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 1970s.
Another historical figure with the name Afeni was Afeni Kanda, a Nigerian activist and politician who served as a member of the Nigerian Senate from 1999 to 2003. She was born in 1948 and played a significant role in advocating for women's rights and social justice in Nigeria.
In the realm of literature, Afeni was the name of a character in the novel "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, published in 1970. The character's name was likely chosen to reflect the Yoruba cultural heritage and its symbolism of prosperity and abundance.
A more contemporary figure bearing the name Afeni was Afeni Sistarah, a prominent figure in the hip-hop community in the United States. She was born in 1968 and was known for her work as a radio DJ, community organizer, and advocate for social justice.
It is worth noting that while the name Afeni has its roots in the Yoruba language and culture, it has gained popularity across various communities and cultures around the world, particularly in the United States, where it has been embraced as a symbol of strength, resilience, and prosperity.
People
Afeni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Afeni as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Afeni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Afeni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 71 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Afeni 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 4,827,526 US residents.
Is Afeni a common name?
We classify Afeni as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 73 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Afeni most popular?
The single biggest year for Afeni was 2017, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Afeni is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Afeni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Afeni a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Afeni in the SSA data are female. 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 Afeni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Afeni 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 Afeni 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Afeni?
Want to know how many people have the name Afeni? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.