Kofi
Masculine · “born on Friday”
Kofi is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,542 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Kofi is an Akan day-name: it says that the child was born on a Friday. In Ghana and Ivory Coast every child receives one, and it is among the most quietly beautiful naming systems anywhere.
How old is the name Kofi?
Kofi first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Kofi alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,500 people named Kofi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kofi most popular?
Kofi peaked in 1978, reaching #1965 nationally. Today it ranks #3240, 1,275 places below that high. See the whole 1978 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Kofi
Akan-speaking peoples in Ghana and Ivory Coast give every child a name for the day of the week they were born, before any other name — Kwame for Saturday, Kwesi for Sunday, Kofi for Friday. The system is old, universal within the community, and entirely independent of any other name a person carries. Enslaved Akan speakers brought the day-names to the Americas, where Cuffee and Cudjo survive in colonial records as anglicized forms, and Kofi has returned in its own spelling through modern African emigration.
Meaning
born on Friday
From the Akan day-naming system, in which each day of the week has a boys' and a girls' name; Kofi is the boys' name for Friday and Afua the girls'.
Pronouncing Kofi
KOH-fee
Two syllables, first stressed. Americans occasionally hear it as the word coffee, which is a different vowel.
Nicknames for Kofi
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 200455 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1965reached in 1978
- Change vs 2024
- +16.1%36 in 2025, from 31
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Kofi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kwofi in Akan — spelling variant
- Kofi in Ewe — same name
- Cuffee in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Virginia, Georgia, New York.
Kofis among us
people named Kofi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 47,447 born in 2025 was named Kofi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Renald test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kofi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Renald climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Renald's path sketches the road Kofi is walking now.
Kofi sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Kofi is headed
Kofi should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Kofi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kofi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled, exact meaning drawn from a living naming system used by millions.
- Four letters and two syllables, readable at sight in almost any language.
- It records a real fact about the child rather than a wish or a quality.
- It is a day-name, so it says something specific and checkable — a Friday birth.
- Americans hear it as close to the word coffee, and the joke will be made.
- Outside the Akan-speaking community the system needs a sentence of explanation.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kofi
Masculine · #3240 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kofis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Kofi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kofi in 2025?
- Kofi ranks #3240 among US boy names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kofi?
- About 1 in every 47,447 US boys born in 2025 was named Kofi — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kofi with classmates?
- Kofi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kofi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenio#3240 · Pace#3240 · Stoney#3240 · Dany#3240 · Rasheed#3240 · Abdirahman#3240 · Mykah#3240 · Lowell#3240
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kofi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kofi and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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