Asante
An African name meaning "thank you" or "gratitude".
Name Census estimates that about 1,425 living Americans carry the first name Asante. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Asante today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Asante births was 1997 (101 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Asante. 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 Asante with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 240,529 Americans
Peak year
1997
101 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,784
Tracked since 1975
Census
Asante in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,106 people with the first name Asante, which placed it at #11,542 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
#11,542
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,106 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
80.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Asante
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asante is Black at 80.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.1%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Asante 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 Asante at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American80.2% · 887
- Two or more races8.1% · 90
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 80
- White3.7% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Asante
Asante leans heavily male at 82.8% of total registrations, but 249 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Asante as a male name
- Ranked #2,784 in 2024
- 46 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (83 births)
Asante as a female name
- Ranked #12,379 in 2022
- 7 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1996 (26 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Asante on both sides of the split. Of the 1,108 people counted with this name, 834 were male (75.3%) and 274 were female (24.7%).
Popularity
Asante: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Asante from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 479 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Asante remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Asante 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 Asante during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Asantes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Asante, while Texas, New Jersey, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Asante
The name Asante has its origins in the Akan language spoken by the Ashanti people of Ghana. It is a West African name that can be traced back to the 11th century when the Ashanti Empire was established. The name Asante is derived from the Akan word "asan," which means "because of war."
The Ashanti people were known for their rich cultural heritage and military prowess, which may explain the meaning behind the name. The Ashanti Empire was a powerful and influential kingdom that existed in present-day Ghana from around 1670 to the late 19th century.
One of the earliest known references to the name Asante can be found in historical records from the 13th century, where it was used by members of the Ashanti royal family. However, it is believed that the name predates these records and was likely in use among the Akan people long before written documentation.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Asante. One of the most famous was Asantehene Osei Tutu I (1660-1717), the founder and first ruler of the Ashanti Empire. He was instrumental in uniting various Akan states and establishing the powerful Ashanti Kingdom.
Another notable figure was Nana Asante Bediatuo (1872-1949), a Ghanaian queen mother and influential leader who played a significant role in the decolonization movement in Ghana. She was a fierce advocate for her people's rights and worked to preserve Ashanti culture and traditions.
In the realm of sports, Asante Samuel (born in 1981) is a former American football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection and won two Super Bowl championships with the New England Patriots.
Asante Samuel Jr. (born in 1999) is the son of the former NFL player and currently plays as a cornerback for the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL.
Asante Kotoko is a professional football club based in Kumasi, Ghana, and one of the most successful and popular teams in the country. The club, founded in 1935, has won numerous domestic and continental titles, and its name pays homage to the Ashanti heritage.
People
Asante + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Asante 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
Asante: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Asante?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,425 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Asante 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 240,529 US residents.
Is Asante a common name?
We classify Asante as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,448 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Asante most popular?
The single biggest year for Asante was 1997, when 101 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Asante is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Asante in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,106 people with the name Asante, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,542 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 Asante 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 Asante?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Asante on both sides of the split. Of the 1,108 people counted with this name, 834 were male (75.3%) and 274 were female (24.7%). 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 Asante?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asante is Black at 80.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.1%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Asante most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Asante in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.2% (887 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 Asante in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Asante a male name?
Yes, 82.8% of people registered as Asante 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 Asante still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Asante 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 Asante 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 are named Asante?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.