Kwesi

#10,250 in 2025Boys' name

Variant of Kwasi

Kwesi has been given to 818 babies in the U.S. since 1971. In 2025 it ranked #10,250 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1977, with 31 recorded.

Babies named Kwesi, 2025

1 in 474,000

Kwesi 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kwesi: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Kwasi

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kwesi means

Kwesi is a variant of Kwasi.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Kwesi → Kwasi. The family’s meaning is “Sunday”, recorded in English with the source elements Kwasiada.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kwasi.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 818 boys were recorded with the name Kwesi between 1971 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 31 in 1977; its best national rank was #1,679 in 1973.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #9,190 in 2020 to #10,250 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,806 in 2015 to #10,250 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 Kwesi?

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

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 474,000; 7 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 244,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #10,250; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 328,272 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Kwesi 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 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kwesi. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kwesis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kwesi was born before 1994 — so the typical Kwesi is around 31 today.

Median birth year: 1994; About 31 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 24.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 33.6%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 818; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 24.3% of all recorded uses (199).

Is Kwesi 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: −2,716; Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago: −1,060; Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago: −2,444; Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago: 0.70×; Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak: 22.6%; Peak was 1977 (31)
Years since peak: 48; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 29.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,679; 1973

Spellings of Kwesi

Kwesi is not the most common spelling — Wes is, with 43.7% against Kwesi's 5.3%.

Wes43.7%6,786
West23.8%3,692
Desi15.1%2,347
Kwesi5.3%818
Kwasi4.6%709
Kei4.2%651
Wess3.3%513

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 Kwesi is used

Across 1910–2025, Kwesi was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 289,347 across all states with data. It was least common in Michigan (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1New York1 in 100,000
2California1 in —
3Michigan1 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. Kwesi has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kwesi around the world

Where Kwesi 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
1996–2024
#5,120
in 2024

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

Kwesi by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #10,250
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Down 1,060
Best rank ever: #1,679; 1973
Peak year: 1977; 31 that year
First recorded: 1971
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 818
Count in 2025: 7

Names similar to Kwesi

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

Kweli Desi Kweku Kweisi Kwest Salesi Kwentin Jesi Kwenton

Sibling names for Kwesi

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

Charissa Melonie Cari Mandi Malissa Cory Nakia Christal

For a brother

Torrey Jerod Shon Edwardo Andrea Scot Thad Delvin

Explore around Kwesi

Top names of 1977, Kwesi's peak year The 1970s in full Other names that peaked in 1973 Boys' names starting with K Akan Boy Names Akan Names