Kwaku

#7,022 in 2025Boys' name

Born on Wednesday

Kwaku has been given to 495 babies in the U.S. since 1970. In 2025 it ranked #7,022 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1995, with 18 recorded.

Babies named Kwaku, 2025

1 in 276,000

Kwaku over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kwaku: meaning, origin, and history

Born on Wednesday

Akan

What Kwaku means

Kwaku means “born on Wednesday”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kwaku is used in Sranan Tongo. Its origins include Akan.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Akuba.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Sranan Tongo, Kwaku is pronounced /ˈkwaku/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 495 boys were recorded with the name Kwaku between 1970 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 18 in 1995; its best national rank was #3,536 in 1971.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #7,289 in 2020 to #7,022 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #11,509 in 2015 to #7,022 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kwaku?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 276,000; 12 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 142,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #7,022; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 191,493 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Kwaku sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 191,493 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kwaku. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kwakus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kwaku was born before 2002 — so the typical Kwaku is around 23 today.

Median birth year: 2002; About 23 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 26.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 53.7%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 495; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 26.7% of all recorded uses (132).

Is Kwaku rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: +2,463; Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago: +267; Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago: +4,487; Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago: 2.00×; More babies than then
Share of its own peak: 66.7%; Peak was 1995 (18)
Years since peak: 30; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 28.4% average annual change
Best rank ever: #3,536; 1971

Spellings of Kwaku

Kwaku is not the most common spelling — Keanu is, with 60.4% against Kwaku's 3.4%.

Keanu60.4%8,695
Kwame27.5%3,955
Kwasi4.9%709
Kwan3.7%537
Kwaku3.4%495

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Kwaku is used

Across 1910–2025, Kwaku was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 412,002 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1New Jersey1 in —
2New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Kwaku has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kwaku around the world

Where Kwaku ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
1996–2025
#2,664
in 2025
Canada
1992–1998
#1,731
in 1998

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Kwaku by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #7,022
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Up 267
Best rank ever: #3,536; 1971
Peak year: 1995; 18 that year
First recorded: 1970
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 495
Count in 2025: 12

Names similar to Kwaku

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Kwasi Kwan Kwadwo Kwabena Kwame Kwane Kwamane Kwali Kwami Haku Kwanza Kwamaine Kwamel Kwante Kwadjo Taku Kwang Kwaun Kwamain Kohaku Kwamin Kwanze Kwamae Kwamir

Sibling names for Kwaku

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Corrina Lexus Alexandrea Dasia Darian Jacquelynn Cinthia Nikole

For a brother

Trever Samual Brandan Madison Coty Tylor Mitchel Garrick

Explore around Kwaku

Top names of 1995, Kwaku's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1971 Boys' names starting with K Akan Boy Names Akan Names