Kwaku
Masculine Akan name meaning "born on Wednesday".
Name Census estimates that about 471 living Americans carry the first name Kwaku. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kwaku today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kwaku births was 1995 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kwaku. 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 Kwaku with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
471
~ 1 in 727,716 Americans
Peak year
1995
18 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,462
Tracked since 1970
Census
Kwaku in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,218 people with the first name Kwaku, which placed it at #10,785 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
#10,785
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,218 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
96.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kwaku
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kwaku is Black at 96.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Kwaku 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 Kwaku at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American96.6% · 1,177
- White1.5% · 18
- Two or more races0.7% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Kwaku: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kwaku 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 132 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kwaku remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kwaku 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 Kwaku during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kwakus live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kwaku
Kwaku is a given name of Akan origin, an ethnic group primarily found in Ghana and parts of Ivory Coast. The name is derived from the Akan word "kwaku," meaning born on Wednesday. It is one of the traditional "day names" given to children based on the day of the week they were born.
The Akan people have a long-standing cultural tradition of naming children after the day of the week they were born, with each day having a corresponding name. This tradition dates back centuries and is believed to have originated in the Akan homelands of present-day Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Historically, the name Kwaku has been recorded in various Akan literary works and oral traditions. It is mentioned in some Akan folktales and proverbs, reflecting its deep roots in the culture. However, there are no known references to the name in ancient religious scriptures or texts from outside the Akan culture.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kwaku can be found in the 18th century, when it was documented by European travelers and writers who encountered the Akan people. Over the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Kwaku.
Kwaku Dua I (1838-1867) was a prominent chief of the Asante Empire, known for his military campaigns and resistance against British colonialism in Ghana.
Kwaku Ansah (1956-2015) was a renowned Ghanaian actor and filmmaker, best known for his roles in popular Ghanaian movies and plays.
Kwaku Baah (1924-2008) was a Ghanaian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and later as the Ambassador to the United Nations.
Kwaku Anim (1905-1982) was a pioneering Ghanaian playwright and educator, widely regarded as the father of modern Ghanaian drama.
Kwaku Frimpong (1934-2014) was a celebrated Ghanaian artist and sculptor, whose works portrayed traditional Akan culture and themes.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Kwaku throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence and cultural significance within the Akan community.
People
Kwaku + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kwaku 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
Kwaku: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kwaku?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 471 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kwaku 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 727,716 US residents.
Is Kwaku a common name?
We classify Kwaku as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 483 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kwaku most popular?
The single biggest year for Kwaku was 1995, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kwaku 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 Kwaku in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,218 people with the name Kwaku, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,785 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 Kwaku 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 Kwaku?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kwaku appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,220 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Kwaku?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kwaku is Black at 96.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Kwaku most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kwaku in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.6% (1,177 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 Kwaku in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kwaku a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kwaku 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 Kwaku still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kwaku 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 Kwaku 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 Americans are named Kwaku?
See how many people have the name Kwaku on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.