OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Ghanaian Name Generator
Akan Day Names, Ewe and Ga Names and Family Surnames
OneTask is free, with no sign-up, and built by one person.
If this tool saved you time, a coffee helps keep new ones coming.
How the Ghanaian Name Generator (Day Names) works
Use this ghanaian name generator to fill a shortlist in seconds. Generate Ghanaian names with the day names the country is famous for, Kofi for a boy born on Friday, Ama for a girl born on Saturday, Kwame, Akosua, Yaw, Adwoa, attached to Akan family names like Mensah, Boateng and Agyemang, or switch to the Ewe and Ga traditions with their own stock, Selorm Agbeko, Naa Adjeley Lamptey. Choose female, male or either and generate up to a hundred.
Ghanaian name generator: the patterns behind each name
The Akan peoples, the Ashanti, Fante and Akyem, who make up about half of Ghana, name every child after the day of the week it was born, and the day name is the name it is called by. The seven days give seven names for each sex: Sunday Kwasi and Akosua, Monday Kwadwo and Adwoa, Tuesday Kwabena and Abenaa, Wednesday Kwaku and Akua, Thursday Yaw and Yaa, Friday Kofi and Afua, Saturday Kwame and Ama. Kofi Annan was born on a Friday and Kwame Nkrumah on a Saturday. The generator weights Kofi, Kwame, Yaw, Ama and Akosua a little more heavily because Fante and Ashanti spellings and the popularity of Friday and Saturday names make them the ones met most often. After the day name comes a family or circumstance name: a name from the father's side, Owusu, Osei, Boateng, or a birth-order name, Mensah third son, Manu second child, Anane fourth, Nsia sixth, or Ata for a twin, and Nana for a child named after a grandparent or a chief. Surnames are these family names fixed in the colonial period, Mensah, Boateng, Agyemang, Owusu, Osei, Asante, Appiah, Acheampong, and Ghanaians of Christian families very often carry an English given name as well, Emmanuel Kofi Mensah, Grace Ama Boateng, which the generator includes in one pattern.
The Ewe of the Volta Region have their own day names, Kwasi and Akosua, Kodzo and Adzo, Kobla and Abla, Koku and Aku, Yao and Yawa, Kofi and Afi, Komla and Ama, and a stock of names that are sentences about God, Mawu: Mawuena God gave, Mawuli God exists, Selorm God loves me, Elikem God has established me, Enyonam it is good for me, Dzifa my heart is at peace, Edem he has saved me, Sedinam God has heard me. Ewe surnames are Agbeko, Ametefe, Dogbe, Gbedemah, Tamakloe. The Ga of Accra name children in a fixed sequence by birth order and house: men are Nii and women Naa, both titles, and the Ga first names Tetteh, Tettey, Lartey and Ashitey, Dede, Korkor, Kai and Adjeley go by order of birth, with surnames like Adjei, Lamptey, Quartey, Ankrah, Ashong, and some Danish and Dutch names from the old Accra trading families, Bruce, Vanderpuye.
Ghanaians in the north, Dagomba, Gonja and Frafra, use Muslim and their own names, which a Nigerian Hausa list approximates. For the other West African systems, the Nigerian page; for the English names that sit beside the day names, the English page.
FAQ
What are the Akan day names?
One name for each day and sex: Sunday Kwasi and Akosua, Monday Kwadwo and Adwoa, Tuesday Kwabena and Abenaa, Wednesday Kwaku and Akua, Thursday Yaw and Yaa, Friday Kofi and Afua, Saturday Kwame and Ama. Every Akan child has one and is called by it.
Is Mensah a surname?
Now, yes. It began as a birth-order name, third son, given as a second name, and was fixed as a hereditary surname in the twentieth century, which is why it is the commonest surname in Ghana. Manu, Anane and Nsia are the same kind of name.
Why do Ghanaians have English names too?
Because Christian families have given a baptismal name since the missionary period, and it is often the name used at school and work while the day name is used at home. Emmanuel Kofi Mensah is a typical full name, and the generator produces the form.
How are Ewe and Ga names different from Akan ones?
Ewe names are often sentences about Mawu, God, Mawuena God gave, Selorm God loves me, with their own day names. Ga names run by birth order with the titles Nii and Naa, and many Ga surnames, Lamptey, Quartey, Ankrah, are recognisably from Accra.
Can I use these names for fiction or test data?
Yes. They are combinations of ordinary names and cannot be owned. Kofi Mensah and Ama Boateng are each carried by thousands, so a common combination will coincide with real people; a name that will be attached to something public deserves a quick search.
See also: all Culture & Language tools, People, Fantasy & RPG, Sci-fi, Online & Social, Business & Brand, Places & Things.
Related tools
1920s Name Generator
Jazz Age names, from Chester Vanderbeck III to Millie Kowalski the flapper.
1940s Name Generator
Popular girls' and boys' names from the 1940s, US and UK.
1950s Name Generator
Post-war names from Linda Sue Patterson to Gary Kowalczyk and Brenda Whitfield.
1960s Name Generator
Popular girls' and boys' names from the Swinging Sixties.
1980s Name Generator
Eighties names from Jennifer Nicole Thompson to Jason Nguyen and Gemma Louise Hopkins.