Kofi, Ama, Kwame: What Akan Day Names Reveal About You
In Ghana, many people carry a name that tells everyone the day of the week they were born. Here is how the Akan day-name system works — and what each day means.
Meet someone named Kofi in Ghana and you already know one thing about him: he was born on a Friday. Meet an Ama, and she was born on a Saturday. Among the Akan peoples — including the Asante (makers of kente cloth), Fante, Akuapem, Akyem and Bono — almost everyone has a day name, and it is one of the most familiar features of Ghanaian life.
How the system works
Every day of the week has a name for boys and a name for girls. When a baby is born, the day of birth gives the child a name that stays with them for life, alongside family and other names.
| Day | Boy | Girl |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Kwadwo (Kojo) | Adwoa (Adjoa) |
| Tuesday | Kwabena (Kobina, Ebo) | Abena (Araba) |
| Wednesday | Kwaku (Kweku) | Akua (Ekua) |
| Thursday | Yaw (Ekow) | Yaa (Aba) |
| Friday | Kofi (Fiifi) | Afua (Efua) |
| Saturday | Kwame (Kwamena) | Ama (Amma) |
| Sunday | Kwasi (Akwasi) | Akosua (Esi) |
Spellings vary by dialect and family. The Fante, along the coast, often use forms such as Kobina, Kweku, Ekow, Ekua and Esi, while Asante speakers might say Kwabena, Kwaku, Yaw, Akua and Akosua.
Names with a character
Day names are about more than a calendar. In Akan thought, the day of birth is linked to a person's kra — their soul or life force — and each day is associated with particular qualities. Interpretations differ, but commonly cited associations include:
- Monday — peace
- Tuesday — the ocean
- Wednesday — the spider, linked with Ananse, the clever trickster of Akan stories
- Thursday — the earth
- Friday — fertility
- Saturday — God
- Sunday — the universe
In everyday conversation, people sometimes tease each other about the personality their day is supposed to bring. It is light-hearted — but it shows how alive the system still is.
Famous day names
You have probably heard Akan day names without realising it:
- Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president, was named for a Saturday birth.
- Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General, was born on a Friday — and so was his twin sister, Efua.
- In Jamaica and Suriname, enslaved Akan people kept day names alive. Leaders of the Maroon communities, such as Cudjoe (from Kojo) and Quao (from Yaw), carried them. The Jamaican word "Quashie" comes from Kwasi.
That last point is a reminder of how far these names travelled — and how people held on to them through the violence of the Atlantic slave trade.
Not only the Akan
Day naming is especially strong among the Akan, but similar systems exist among their neighbours. The Ewe of eastern Ghana and Togo use related day names, such as Kodzo, Komla and Kofi for boys and Adzo, Abla and Afi for girls. The Ga, whose Homowo festival fills Accra every year, and other groups have their own traditions too, often mixing day names with birth-order names and names for twins.
Day names in everyday life
In Ghana, it is common to call someone by their day name even if their official name is different. A man registered as "Emmanuel" may be "Kofi" to everyone at home. People are also given names that mark birth order (for example, the third or tenth child), circumstances of birth, or the name of a respected relative. A full Ghanaian name can carry a whole family history.
Find your own day name
If you know the day of the week you were born, you can look it up in the table above. Many people of African descent around the world — and many friends of Ghana — have taken an Akan day name as a way of feeling connected to that culture. If you do, it is worth also learning the story behind it: the idea that the day you arrived in the world says something about who you are.
Further reading
- Kofi Agyekum, "The Sociolinguistic of Akan Personal Names," Nordic Journal of African Studies 15(2), 2006
