Ashanti
From the Akan people of Ghana, meaning "because of war".
Name Census estimates that about 12,931 living Americans carry the first name Ashanti. It is a predominantly female name (94.2% of registrations). The average person named Ashanti today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ashanti births was 2002 (2,969 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ashanti. 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 Ashanti with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,506 Americans
Peak year
2002
2,969 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2019 SSA rank
#1,976
Tracked since 1970
Census
Ashanti in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,254 people with the first name Ashanti, which placed it at #2,422 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
#2,422
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,254 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ashanti
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashanti is Black at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.6%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Ashanti 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 Ashanti at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American80.6% · 8,265
- Hispanic or Latino10.6% · 1,091
- Two or more races5.6% · 578
- White1.8% · 188
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 79
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 53
Gender
Gender distribution for Ashanti
Ashanti leans heavily female at 94.2% of total registrations, but 767 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ashanti as a male name
- Ranked #12,309 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1979 (40 births)
Ashanti as a female name
- Ranked #1,976 in 2024
- 99 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2002 (2,946 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashanti leans strongly female. 9,691 people counted with this name were female (94.5%), compared with 561 male bearers (5.5%).
Popularity
Ashanti: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ashanti 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 6,584 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ashanti 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 Ashanti during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ashantis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. Florida, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Ashanti, while Utah, Nebraska, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 266 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ashanti
The name Ashanti originates from the Akan people of present-day Ghana and Ivory Coast in West Africa. It is derived from the Ashanti Empire, a prominent pre-colonial kingdom that existed in the region from the late 17th century until the early 20th century.
The name Ashanti is believed to be a variation of the word "Asante," which means "because of war" or "from war" in the Akan language. This likely refers to the Ashanti Empire's military prowess and their battles to establish control over the area.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Ashanti can be found in the writings of European explorers and traders who visited the region during the 17th and 18th centuries. These accounts describe the Ashanti Empire and its people, often referring to them as the "Ashantee" or "Ashantis."
In the 19th century, the name Ashanti gained wider recognition due to the Ashanti-British War of 1823-1831, in which the Ashanti Empire fought against the British Empire's attempts to expand its influence in the region. This conflict brought the Ashanti people and their name to the attention of a broader audience.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ashanti. One of the earliest recorded examples is Osei Tutu (c. 1660-1717), the founder and first ruler of the Ashanti Empire. Another prominent figure was Nana Yaa Asantewaa (c. 1840-1923), a queen mother who led the Ashanti rebellion against British colonizers in the late 19th century.
In the realm of entertainment, Ashanti Douglas (born 1980) is a Grammy Award-winning American singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the early 2000s. Additionally, Ashanti Bromfield (born 1984) is a British actress known for her roles in television series such as EastEnders and Desmond's.
In the world of sports, Ashanti Ellison (born 1996) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). There is also Ashanti Fortson (born 1997), an American sprinter who competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
People
Ashanti + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ashanti 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
Ashanti: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ashanti?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,931 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ashanti 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 26,506 US residents.
Is Ashanti a common name?
We classify Ashanti as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,253 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ashanti most popular?
The single biggest year for Ashanti was 2002, when 2,969 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ashanti 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 Ashanti in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,254 people with the name Ashanti, or 3.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,422 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 Ashanti 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 Ashanti?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashanti leans strongly female. 9,691 people counted with this name were female (94.5%), compared with 561 male bearers (5.5%). 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 Ashanti?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashanti is Black at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.6%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). 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 Ashanti most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ashanti in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (8,265 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 Ashanti in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ashanti a female name?
Yes, 94.2% of people registered as Ashanti 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 Ashanti still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ashanti 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 Ashanti 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 called Ashanti?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.