AkanGhanaianSaturday-born
Meaning: born on a Saturday.
Kwame
| Origin | Akan (Twi and Fante), spoken in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire — a day-name |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Born on a Saturday, from Memeneda (Saturday) with the kw- prefix that marks a male day-name |
| Pronunciation | KWAH-may; in Ghanaian English the second syllable is flatter, KWAH-meh |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100, though it is the most widely recognised Akan name abroad and has been used by African American families since the 1960s |
| Variants | Kwamé, Kwami (Ewe), Kouamé (Baoulé, Côte d'Ivoire), Quamina and Quame in historic Caribbean records |
| Nicknames | Seldom shortened; bearers normally use the full name, often after a first Christian name |
| Female form | Ama — the name every Saturday-born Akan girl receives |
History & meaning
Akan naming begins with the calendar. Every child born into an Akan family — Ashanti, Fante, Akuapem, Akyem, Bono — receives a name for the day of the week they were born, and it is given automatically, before anything else is decided. There are seven for boys and seven for girls: Kwasi for Sunday, Kwadwo for Monday, Kwabena for Tuesday, Kwaku for Wednesday, Yaw for Thursday, Kofi for Friday, and Kwame for Saturday. The girls' set runs alongside it: Akosua, Adwoa, Abena, Akua, Yaa, Afua and Ama. Kwame comes from Memeneda, the Akan Saturday; Ama is its counterpart.
The day-name is not a label of convenience. In Akan thought the kra, the soul, arrives from Nyame on a particular day and carries that day's character with it, which is why the day-name is called the kradin — soul name. Each day has an associated temperament, and Saturday's is the oldest and most senior of the seven, tied to the ancient, the founding, the first. A second personal name follows, and a third may record birth order: Nkrumah is traditionally explained as nkroma, ninth-born, which is what Kwame Nkrumah's surname says about his family.
Why parents choose it
Outside Ghana, Kwame is chosen for what it declares rather than what it describes. It travelled into African American use in the 1960s and 1970s as a deliberate reclamation, and it carries the weight of Ghanaian independence with it. Inside Ghana no one chooses it at all — a Saturday birth decides the matter.
Middle names for Kwame
Ghanaian practice puts the day-name first and a personal or Christian name after it, so the natural shape is Kwame plus something substantial: Kwame Nathaniel, Kwame Elijah, Kwame Julian, Kwame Isaiah. Our middle names guide covers the rhythm rules in more depth.
Famous Kwames
Kwame Nkrumah led the Gold Coast to independence in 1957 and became Ghana's first president; 21 September is still a public holiday in his name. Stokely Carmichael renamed himself Kwame Ture in 1978, after Nkrumah and Ahmed Sékou Touré. The philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, born in London on a Saturday in May 1954 and raised in Kumasi, wrote Cosmopolitanism and writes The Ethicist column for The New York Times. Kwame Brown was the first overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft.
Consider instead
If Saturday is not the day, the system supplies the answer: Kofi for Friday, Yaw for Thursday. For an African name with a meaning rather than a date, Jabari is Swahili for brave.