Kofi
A masculine name of Ghanaian origin meaning "born on Friday".
Name Census estimates that about 1,480 living Americans carry the first name Kofi. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Kofi today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kofi births was 2004 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kofi. 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 Kofi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 231,591 Americans
Peak year
2004
55 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,641
Tracked since 1970
Census
Kofi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,881 people with the first name Kofi, which placed it at #5,776 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
#5,776
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,881 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kofi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kofi is Black at 92.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.5%) and White (2.2%). 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 Kofi 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 Kofi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.1% · 2,654
- Two or more races3.5% · 102
- White2.2% · 63
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Kofi
Out of the 1,516 babies given the name Kofi since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Kofi as a male name
- Ranked #3,641 in 2024
- 31 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (55 births)
Kofi as a female name
- Ranked #16,464 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1976 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kofi leans strongly male. 2,838 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 45 female bearers (1.6%).
Popularity
Kofi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kofi 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 390 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kofi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kofi 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 Kofi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kofis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Maryland recorded the most babies named Kofi, while Texas, Florida, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kofi
The given name Kofi originates from the Akan language spoken by the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. It dates back several centuries and is derived from the Akan word "kɔfrɪ" which means "born on Friday."
In the traditional Akan culture, a person's name is often assigned based on the day of the week they were born. Kofi is one of the male names given to children born on Friday. The corresponding female name for Friday births is Afua.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Kofi can be found in the Akan oral traditions and folklore. It is believed to have been in use for several centuries before the arrival of European colonizers in West Africa.
Throughout history, there have been notable individuals who bore the name Kofi. One of the most famous was Kofi Annan, the Ghanaian diplomat and the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. He was born on April 8, 1938, and passed away on August 18, 2018.
Another notable Kofi was Kofi Abrefa Busia, a Ghanaian teacher, politician, and Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. He was born on July 11, 1913, and died on August 28, 1978.
In the world of sports, Kofi Annan Boateng was a Ghanaian professional footballer who played as a midfielder for several clubs in Europe, including Nottingham Forest and Hertha BSC. He was born on December 3, 1968, and is still alive.
Kofi Kingston, whose real name is Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah, is a Ghanaian-American professional wrestler currently signed with WWE. He was born on August 14, 1981, and has been a prominent figure in the wrestling industry for over a decade.
Kofi Abrefa Ofori-Attah was a Ghanaian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Education and Culture from 1976 to 1979. He was born on November 24, 1921, and passed away on August 2, 1992.
These examples illustrate the long-standing cultural significance and widespread use of the name Kofi among the Akan people and beyond, spanning various fields such as politics, diplomacy, sports, and entertainment.
People
Kofi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kofi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kofi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kofi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,480 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kofi 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 231,591 US residents.
Is Kofi a common name?
We classify Kofi as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,516 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kofi most popular?
The single biggest year for Kofi was 2004, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kofi is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kofi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,881 people with the name Kofi, or 0.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,776 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 Kofi 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 Kofi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kofi leans strongly male. 2,838 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 45 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Kofi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kofi is Black at 92.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.5%) and White (2.2%). 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 Kofi most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kofi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.1% (2,654 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 Kofi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kofi a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Kofi 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 Kofi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kofi 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 Kofi 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 Kofi?
You can see how many people share the name Kofi on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.