Kofi

Boy · Akan (Twi and Fante), Ghana

Kofi

Say it: KOH-fee

Try it with your surname

Meaning

An Akan day name meaning a boy born on Friday.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Akan day names reached the Americas with enslaved West Africans, and the original forms were taken up again by some African American parents from the 1960s onward.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

010203018801900192019401960198020002020Peak 2004per million babies of that sex
  • 1,350 babies given this name since 1970
  • At its height in 2004, about 1 in 36,100 boys
  • 36 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

African American

The family of the name

Other spellings: Coffie

Famous bearers

  • Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
  • National birth statistics of European countries source
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.