Ajani
A masculine name of African origin meaning "he who struggles/fights valiantly".
Name Census estimates that about 2,392 living Americans carry the first name Ajani. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Ajani today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ajani births was 2004 (120 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ajani. 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 Ajani with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 143,292 Americans
Peak year
2004
120 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,070
Tracked since 1974
Census
Ajani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,787 people with the first name Ajani, which placed it at #8,177 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
#8,177
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,787 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ajani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ajani is Black at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Two or More Races (9.7%). 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 Ajani 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 Ajani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.6% · 1,369
- Hispanic or Latino10.5% · 188
- Two or more races9.7% · 174
- White2.0% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Ajani
Ajani leans heavily male at 89.6% of total registrations, but 252 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ajani as a male name
- Ranked #2,070 in 2024
- 72 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (109 births)
Ajani as a female name
- Ranked #12,168 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ajani leans strongly male. 1,588 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 206 female bearers (11.5%).
Popularity
Ajani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ajani from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,011 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Ajani remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ajani 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 Ajani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ajanis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. New York, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Ajani, while Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 81 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ajani
The given name Ajani has its origins in the Yoruba language of West Africa, spoken primarily in modern-day Nigeria. The name is derived from the Yoruba word "Ajan," which means "wealth" or "richness."
In traditional Yoruba culture, names often carried significant meanings related to circumstances surrounding a child's birth, family values, or aspirations for the newborn. The name Ajani was typically bestowed upon a child to symbolize the parents' desire for the child to attain material prosperity and abundance.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Ajani can be found in the Odu Ifa corpus, a collection of Yoruba spiritual and literary texts that date back to the 16th century. The name appears in various verses and proverbs, often associated with themes of prosperity and success.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ajani. One of the most prominent was Ajani Ogboni (1828-1905), a Yoruba chief and influential figure in the city of Abeokuta, Nigeria, during the 19th century. He played a crucial role in negotiating peace treaties and fostering trade relationships with neighboring kingdoms.
Another notable figure was Ajani Crowther (1809-1891), a Yoruba linguist and Anglican missionary who was one of the first individuals from West Africa to be ordained as a minister in the Church of Missionary Society. He made significant contributions to the translation of the Bible and other religious texts into the Yoruba language.
In the realm of sports, Ajani Balogun (born 1976) is a former Nigerian footballer who played as a defender for various clubs in Europe, including Fortuna Sittard and Trabzonspor. He also represented the Nigerian national team in multiple international competitions.
The name Ajani also found its way into literature, with Ajani Husbands (1938-2013), a renowned Barbadian writer and poet known for his works exploring themes of identity, culture, and social issues in the Caribbean region.
Lastly, Ajani Jones (born 1977) is an American actor and musician best known for his roles in television series such as "The Shield" and "Banshee," as well as his work as a lead singer in the band Marquis.
People
Ajani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ajani 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
Ajani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ajani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,392 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ajani 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 143,292 US residents.
Is Ajani a common name?
We classify Ajani as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,426 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ajani most popular?
The single biggest year for Ajani was 2004, when 120 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ajani is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ajani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,787 people with the name Ajani, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,177 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 Ajani 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 Ajani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ajani leans strongly male. 1,588 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 206 female bearers (11.5%). 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 Ajani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ajani is Black at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Two or More Races (9.7%). 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 Ajani most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ajani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.6% (1,369 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 Ajani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ajani a male name?
Yes, 89.6% of people registered as Ajani 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 Ajani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ajani 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 Ajani 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 Ajani as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Ajani on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.