Akosua
A feminine name of Akan origin meaning "born on Sunday".
Name Census estimates that about 345 living Americans carry the first name Akosua. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Akosua today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Akosua births was 2003 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Akosua. 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 Akosua with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
345
~ 1 in 993,491 Americans
Peak year
2003
15 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,495
Tracked since 1974
Census
Akosua in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 818 people with the first name Akosua, which placed it at #14,422 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
#14,422
National first-name rank
People counted
818
818 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
95.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Akosua
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akosua is Black at 95.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.0%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Akosua 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 Akosua at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American95.2% · 779
- White2.0% · 16
- Two or more races1.8% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Akosua: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Akosua 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 86 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Akosua remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Akosua 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 Akosua during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Akosuas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Akosua
The name Akosua originates from the Akan language spoken by the Akan people of Ghana and Ivory Coast in West Africa. It traces its roots back to the 13th century when the Akan people began migrating to their present location. Akosua is derived from the word "kos" meaning "born on" and the suffix "ua" referring to Sunday, indicating that the name is given to a girl born on Sunday.
In the Akan culture, each day of the week has a specific name associated with it, and children are traditionally named based on the day they were born. This naming convention has been an integral part of Akan tradition for centuries, and Akosua holds significance as a name bestowed upon girls born on the first day of the week.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Akosua can be found in oral histories and traditional stories passed down through generations of Akan people. However, written records of the name become more prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the introduction of Western education and record-keeping systems in the region.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Akosua was Akosua Busia, a prominent Ghanaian educator and women's rights activist born in 1923. She played a significant role in promoting education for girls in Ghana and advocating for gender equality.
Another remarkable Akosua was Akosua Budu Amoah, a Ghanaian entrepreneur and businesswoman who lived from 1905 to 1997. She founded the Akosua Budu Amoah Foundation, which provided educational and economic opportunities for underprivileged women and children.
In the realm of literature, Akosua Agyei-Bediako, a Ghanaian writer born in 1948, made significant contributions to the literary landscape with her novels and short stories exploring themes of identity, culture, and societal issues.
Akosua Asantewa, also known as Nana Yaa Asantewaa, was a celebrated Asante Queen Mother and influential figure in the late 19th century. She led an armed uprising against British colonial rule in Ghana, becoming a symbol of resistance and courage.
Additionally, Akosua Ganyo, born in 1938, is a renowned Ghanaian sculptor and ceramist whose works have been widely exhibited and celebrated both nationally and internationally, reflecting the cultural heritage and traditions of Ghana.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Akosua throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich cultural tapestry of Ghana and the broader Akan community.
People
Akosua + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Akosua 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
Akosua: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Akosua?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 345 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Akosua 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 993,491 US residents.
Is Akosua a common name?
We classify Akosua as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 355 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Akosua most popular?
The single biggest year for Akosua was 2003, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Akosua is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Akosua in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 818 people with the name Akosua, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,422 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 Akosua 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 Akosua?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Akosua appears almost entirely female. Of the 815 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Akosua?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Akosua is Black at 95.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.0%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Akosua most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Akosua in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.2% (779 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 Akosua in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Akosua a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Akosua 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 Akosua still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Akosua 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 Akosua 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 common is the name Akosua?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.