Nakesia
Feminine name of uncertain origin, potentially from a Native American language.
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Nakesia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nakesia today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nakesia births was 1976 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nakesia. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Nakesia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
1976
8 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1981 SSA rank
#9,949
Tracked since 1975
Popularity
Nakesia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nakesia from the 1970s through to the 1980s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 19 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Nakesia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nakesia 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 Nakesia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nakesia
The given name Nakesia originated from the Akan language, spoken by the Akan people of Ghana and Ivory Coast in West Africa. The name can be traced back to the late 15th century, when European traders and explorers first made contact with the Akan kingdoms along the Gulf of Guinea.
One of the earliest known records of the name Nakesia is found in a Dutch trader's journal from the late 1600s, where he documented his interactions with the royal court of the Ashanti Empire. The name is believed to have roots in the Akan words "nake" meaning "good" and "sia" meaning "child" or "offspring."
In the 18th and 19th centuries, as the transatlantic slave trade reached its peak, many Akan people were forcibly transported to the Americas, carrying their cultural traditions and names with them. This likely contributed to the eventual spread and adoption of the name Nakesia in the Caribbean and parts of North America.
One notable historical figure with the name Nakesia was a West African queen who ruled over a small kingdom in present-day Ghana during the late 1700s. Her reign was marked by a period of relative peace and prosperity for her people, although few detailed records of her life have survived.
Another early recorded instance of the name was Nakesia Okonta, a Nigerian writer and activist born in 1872, who was a prominent figure in the early independence movements of West Africa.
In the 20th century, Nakesia Owusu (1920-2005) was a Ghanaian educator and women's rights advocate, known for her work in promoting literacy and empowerment for young girls.
The American jazz singer Nakesia Smith (1933-2018) was also a notable figure, renowned for her soulful and powerful vocals during the Harlem Renaissance era.
Lastly, Nakesia Bingham (born 1975) is a British-Ghanaian artist and sculptor, whose works have been featured in numerous exhibitions and galleries across Europe and Africa.
People
Nakesia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nakesia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nakesia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nakesia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nakesia 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Nakesia a common name?
We classify Nakesia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 30 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nakesia most popular?
The single biggest year for Nakesia was 1976, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nakesia is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Nakesia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nakesia 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.
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.