Kwamane
From an African language meaning "born on Saturday".
Name Census estimates that about 126 living Americans carry the first name Kwamane. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kwamane today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kwamane births was 1990 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kwamane. 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.
People living today
126
~ 1 in 2,720,273 Americans
Peak year
1990
35 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2014 SSA rank
#13,200
Tracked since 1989
Census
Kwamane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 111 people with the first name Kwamane, which placed it at #51,800 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
#51,800
National first-name rank
People counted
111
111 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kwamane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kwamane is Black at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and White (2.7%). 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 Kwamane 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 Kwamane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.4% · 97
- Two or more races6.3% · 7
- White2.7% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 1
Popularity
Kwamane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kwamane from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 89 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
Kwamane 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 Kwamane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kwamanes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. North Carolina, Virginia, Florida recorded the most babies named Kwamane, while Florida, Virginia, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kwamane
The name Kwamane is believed to have its origins in the Akan language spoken by the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast in West Africa. The name is thought to be derived from the Akan word "kwame," which means "born on Saturday." This suggests that the name Kwamane may have been given to children born on that day in Akan tradition.
In some historical records, the name Kwamane is found spelled slightly differently, such as "Kwamaine" or "Kwameni." These variations likely emerged due to phonetic differences in various Akan dialects or as a result of transcription by non-native speakers.
While there are no definitive historical references to the name Kwamane in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its Akan origins place it firmly within the cultural traditions of the Akan people, whose history can be traced back several centuries.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kwamane was Kwamane Nkrumah, a Ghanaian politician and revolutionary who played a pivotal role in Ghana's independence movement. Born in 1909, he served as the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana after the country gained independence from British colonial rule in 1957.
Another notable figure was Kwamane Lutterodt, a Ghanaian artist and sculptor who was born in 1925. His works, which often depicted scenes from Akan culture and mythology, are highly regarded and can be found in museums and collections around the world.
In the field of literature, Kwamane Armah, a Ghanaian novelist and essayist born in 1939, is renowned for his works that explore themes of post-colonial identity and societal issues in Africa. His novels, such as "The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born" and "Two Thousand Seasons," have received critical acclaim and are considered seminal works in African literature.
Moving to the realm of sports, Kwamane Jones, a former professional basketball player from the United States, played in the NBA for several teams, including the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, during his career spanning from 1998 to 2006.
Finally, Kwamane Maloney, a Trinidadian cricketer born in 1979, represented the West Indies national cricket team in both Test and One Day International matches, playing as a right-arm fast bowler in the early 2000s.
People
Kwamane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kwamane 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
Kwamane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kwamane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 126 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kwamane 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 2,720,273 US residents.
Is Kwamane a common name?
We classify Kwamane as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 130 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kwamane most popular?
The single biggest year for Kwamane was 1990, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kwamane is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kwamane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 111 people with the name Kwamane, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,800 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 Kwamane 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 Kwamane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kwamane leans strongly male. 110 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 3 female bearers (2.7%). 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 Kwamane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kwamane is Black at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and White (2.7%). 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 Kwamane most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kwamane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.4% (97 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 Kwamane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kwamane a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kwamane 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 Kwamane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kwamane 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 Kwamane 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 Kwamane?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.