Ashante
West African name meaning "gratitude".
Name Census estimates that about 1,575 living Americans carry the first name Ashante. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Ashante today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ashante births was 2002 (157 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ashante. 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 Ashante with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 217,622 Americans
Peak year
2002
157 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2001 SSA rank
#6,493
Tracked since 1971
Census
Ashante in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,312 people with the first name Ashante, which placed it at #10,245 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
#10,245
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,312 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ashante
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashante is Black at 83.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Ashante 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 Ashante at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.8% · 1,099
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 85
- Two or more races6.2% · 81
- White2.6% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Ashante
Ashante leans heavily female at 89.4% of total registrations, but 172 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ashante as a male name
- Ranked #6,493 in 2001
- 10 male births in 2001
- Peak: 1994 (15 births)
Ashante as a female name
- Ranked #11,528 in 2018
- 8 female births in 2018
- Peak: 2002 (157 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashante leans strongly female. 1,171 people counted with this name were female (88.8%), compared with 147 male bearers (11.2%).
Popularity
Ashante: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ashante from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 711 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ashante 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 Ashante during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ashantes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. New York, Louisiana, Florida recorded the most babies named Ashante, while Tennessee, New Jersey, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ashante
The name Ashante has its origins in the Akan language, spoken by the Ashanti people of Ghana in West Africa. It is derived from the word "Asha" which means "traveler" or "to wander". The name first gained prominence in the region during the 14th century with the rise of the powerful Ashanti Empire.
The earliest known record of the name appears in the oral histories and folklore of the Ashanti people, which were later transcribed by European explorers and missionaries. One of the most famous tales is the legend of Nana Ashante, a revered queen who united the Ashanti kingdoms and led her people to victory against their rivals.
Throughout the centuries, the name Ashante has been associated with strength, resilience, and a spirit of adventure. In the 17th century, an Ashanti warrior named Ashante Kwame is said to have led a successful rebellion against the oppressive rule of the Akwamu Empire, paving the way for the Golden Age of the Ashanti Kingdom.
In the realm of literature, the name Ashante gained popularity in the 20th century with the publication of the novel "The Ashante" by Alfred Lewis in 1933. The book, which explored the culture and traditions of the Ashanti people, brought the name to the attention of a wider audience.
Notable individuals named Ashante throughout history include:
1. Ashante Sampong (1897-1978), a Ghanaian educator and activist who played a pivotal role in the country's independence movement.
2. Ashante Dickerson (1976-present), an American professional basketball player and coach.
3. Ashante Renee (1979-present), an American actress and model known for her roles in films such as "Coach Carter" and "Stomp the Yard".
4. Ashante Philips (1985-present), a British sprinter and Olympic medalist.
5. Ashante Bradford (1990-present), an American singer and songwriter known for her work in the R&B genre.
The name Ashante has endured as a powerful symbol of the rich cultural heritage of the Ashanti people, and its meaning has transcended borders, inspiring individuals around the world with its spirit of exploration and resilience.
People
Ashante + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ashante 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
Ashante: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ashante?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,575 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ashante 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 217,622 US residents.
Is Ashante a common name?
We classify Ashante as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,630 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ashante most popular?
The single biggest year for Ashante was 2002, when 157 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ashante is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ashante in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,312 people with the name Ashante, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,245 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 Ashante 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 Ashante?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashante leans strongly female. 1,171 people counted with this name were female (88.8%), compared with 147 male bearers (11.2%). 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 Ashante?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashante is Black at 83.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Ashante most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ashante in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.8% (1,099 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 Ashante in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ashante a female name?
Yes, 89.4% of people registered as Ashante 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 Ashante still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ashante 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 Ashante 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 Ashante?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.