Nii
An Akan masculine name meaning "born on Saturday".
Name Census estimates that about 55 living Americans carry the first name Nii. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nii today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nii births was 1999 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nii. 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 Nii with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Nii. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
55
~ 1 in 6,231,897 Americans
Peak year
1999
8 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2014 SSA rank
#11,720
Tracked since 1978
Census
Nii in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 268 people with the first name Nii, which placed it at #31,773 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
#31,773
National first-name rank
People counted
268
268 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
94.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nii
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nii is Black at 94.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (2.2%) and Hispanic (1.9%). 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 Nii 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 Nii at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American94.4% · 253
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 5
- White1.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Nii: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nii from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 18 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nii remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nii 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 Nii 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 Nii
The name Nii has its origins in the Akan language spoken by the Akan people of Ghana and Ivory Coast in West Africa. The name dates back centuries and is believed to have originated from the Akan word "ni" which means "born on" or "came into being on".
In traditional Akan culture, the name Nii was often given to a child born on a particular day of the week, with different names corresponding to different days. For example, a boy born on Tuesday might be named Nii Kwao, while a girl born on the same day might be named Nii Abena.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Nii can be found in historical accounts and oral traditions passed down through generations of Akan people. However, there are no known references to the name in ancient texts or religious scriptures from other cultures.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Nii was Nii Okai Okunor, a prominent Ga chief and trader who lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries in what is now Ghana. He played a significant role in the early trading relationships between the Ga people and European merchants.
Another notable figure with the name Nii was Nii Ammah Ollennu, a respected Ghanaian lawyer, writer, and scholar who lived from 1906 to 1986. He made significant contributions to the study of customary law in Ghana and was instrumental in shaping the country's legal system after independence.
In the realm of politics, Nii Amaa Ollennu served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana from 1965 to 1966. He was born in 1915 and played a pivotal role in Ghana's transition to independence.
Nii Quaye was a renowned Ghanaian musician and composer who lived from 1919 to 2008. He is considered one of the pioneers of highlife music, a genre that blends traditional Akan music with Western styles. His compositions and performances have left a lasting impact on Ghanaian music.
Nii Lante Vanderpuye is a contemporary Ghanaian politician who served as the Minister for Youth and Sports in Ghana from 2013 to 2017. Born in 1967, he has been actively involved in various governmental and community initiatives throughout his career.
It is important to note that while the name Nii has its roots in the Akan culture, it has also gained popularity and usage beyond its traditional boundaries, particularly within Ghana and other parts of West Africa.
People
Nii + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nii 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
Nii: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nii?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 55 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nii 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 6,231,897 US residents.
Is Nii a common name?
We classify Nii as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 57 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nii most popular?
The single biggest year for Nii was 1999, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nii is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nii in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 268 people with the name Nii, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,773 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 Nii 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 Nii?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nii leans strongly male. 251 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 16 female bearers (6.0%). 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 Nii?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nii is Black at 94.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (2.2%) and Hispanic (1.9%). 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 Nii most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nii in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.4% (253 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 Nii in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nii a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nii 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 Nii still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nii 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 Nii 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 Nii?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.