Most Common Ghanaian Names: Top 100 List and Meanings

A name in Ghana is rarely “just a name.” It can hint at the day someone was born, the faith a family practices, or a value parents want their child to carry for life. That is why most common Ghanaian names often blend three major influences: traditional ethnic naming systems (especially Akan day names), Christian biblical naming, and Arabic-rooted Muslim naming.

This article pulls its name-frequency list from Forebears forenames data for Ghana (which reports over 42,000 unique forenames recorded for the country), then explains the most common patterns and what the most common Ghanaian names generally mean in everyday usage.

Quick facts about the most common Ghanaian names

Data source for name frequency: Forebears Ghana forenames (incidence and rank).
Top name in Ghana by incidence: Emmanuel (628,999 in Forebears data).
Religion and naming: Ghana’s 2021 census shows Christianity as the largest religion (about 71.3%) and Islam (about 19.9%), which helps explain why biblical and Arabic-rooted names show up heavily in top rankings.

Why Ghanaian names are so distinctive

Ghana is home to many ethnic groups (Akan, Ewe, Ga, Dagomba and more), and naming traditions vary by language and region. Still, when you look at the most common Ghanaian names, you usually see three big threads:

1) Christian and biblical names

Names like Emmanuel, Samuel, Isaac, Daniel, Michael, Joseph, John, James, and Peter dominate the very top of the list. That is consistent with Ghana’s large Christian population as reported in national census figures.

2) Akan day names (kra din)

Akan day names are among Ghana’s best-known cultural naming systems. These names are tied to the day of the week a child is born, and they remain common in modern Ghana. For example, Kofi is widely recognized as a Friday-born male name, and Kwame as a Saturday-born male name.

3) Muslim and Arabic-rooted names

Names like Mohammed, Ibrahim, Abdul, and Abdulai also appear in the top 100. That aligns with Ghana’s sizable Muslim population reported in census-based summaries.

The Akan day name system (day-of-week names)

If you meet a Ghanaian named Kofi, Yaw, Kwabena, or Kwame, there is a good chance you are hearing an Akan day name. These names are widely referenced as day-of-week names in Akan tradition (with spelling variations across communities and families).

Day of week	Male name(s)	Female name(s)
Sunday	Kwasi / Akwasi	Akosua / Ama
Monday	Kojo / Kwadwo	Adjoa / Adwoa
Tuesday	Kwabena	Abena / Araba
Wednesday	Kwaku	Akua / Ekua
Thursday	Yaw	Yaa / Aba
Friday	Kofi	Afua / Efua / Afia
Saturday	Kwame	Ama / Amma

Two famous examples many people recognize: Kofi Annan (Kofi is commonly explained as a Friday-born male day name) and Kwame Nkrumah (Kwame is commonly explained as a Saturday-born male day name).

Virtue names (a very Ghanaian mainstream pattern)

One of the most noticeable features in the top 100 is the number of everyday “virtue names,” especially for women, that are treated as normal first names in Ghana. You see names like Gifty, Grace, Patience, Mercy, Comfort, and Bright ranked alongside biblical and day names in the same national top list.

In plain terms, these names often function like a lifelong blessing, a prayer, or a statement of gratitude.

The 100 most common Ghanaian names (Forebears-based list)

The table below lists the most common Ghanaian names by rank and incidence as shown on Forebears. For items where your original draft used approximate counts near the bottom, those were presented as estimates; everything in ranks 1 to 80 matches the values shown directly in the Forebears Ghana forenames table excerpt.

#	Name	Est. count	Meaning / notes (common interpretation)
1	Emmanuel	628,999	Hebrew: “God is with us”
2	Samuel	506,008	Hebrew: often rendered as “name of God”
3	Isaac	356,330	Hebrew: “he laughs”
4	Daniel	342,508	Hebrew: “God is my judge”
5	Michael	327,450	Hebrew: “who is like God?”
6	Nana	305,931	Akan honorific/royal title used as a name
7	Joseph	298,571	Hebrew: “he will add”
8	Richard	297,728	Germanic: “strong ruler”
9	Eric	277,894	Norse: often glossed as “eternal ruler”
10	Francis	274,467	Latin: commonly “Frenchman” or “free man”
11	John	261,095	Hebrew: “God is gracious”
12	George	229,575	Greek: “farmer”
13	David	221,877	Hebrew: “beloved”
14	Mohammed	202,718	Arabic: “praiseworthy”
15	Stephen	198,729	Greek: “crown”
16	Prince	194,908	Title-name used as first name
17	Charles	194,121	Germanic: “free man”
18	Kofi	190,245	Akan day name: Friday-born male
19	Frank	178,446	Germanic: “free man”
20	Benjamin	176,479	Hebrew: “son of the right hand”
21	Mary	164,006	Traditional biblical name
22	Ebenezer	162,658	Hebrew: “stone of help”
23	Kwame	160,803	Akan day name: Saturday-born male
24	James	153,499	Hebrew: often glossed as “supplanter”
25	Ernest	146,982	“earnest/serious”
26	Esther	142,543	Often glossed as “star”
27	Peter	134,396	Greek: “rock”
28	Patrick	123,103	Latin: “nobleman”
29	Elizabeth	122,091	Hebrew: “my God is an oath”
30	Paul	121,361	Latin: “small/humble”
31	Gifty	120,799	Virtue name: “a gift”
32	William	120,631	Germanic: “resolute protector”
33	Grace	120,013	Virtue name: “grace”
34	Edward	119,451	“wealthy guardian”
35	Felix	115,911	Latin: “happy/fortunate”
36	Ibrahim	113,383	Arabic form of Abraham
37	Abigail	110,686	Hebrew: “father’s joy”
38	Linda	110,405	Common global name in Ghana
39	Seth	108,495	Hebrew: “appointed”
40	Anthony	108,214	Latin: often glossed “priceless”
41	Abdul	107,258	Arabic: “servant of God”
42	Robert	106,079	Germanic: “bright fame”
43	Philip	103,325	Greek: “lover of horses”
44	Joyce	102,988	Common global name in Ghana
45	Patience	101,022	Virtue name: “patience”
46	Bernard	96,920	Germanic: “bear strength”
47	Yaw	96,077	Akan day name: Thursday-born male
48	Kwabena	95,459	Akan day name: Tuesday-born male
49	Albert	94,504	Germanic: “noble/bright”
50	Alex	94,392	Greek: “defender”
51	Rita	94,392	Common global name in Ghana
52	Kwaku	93,493	Akan day name: Wednesday-born male
53	Henry	90,852	Germanic: “ruler of home”
54	Gloria	90,571	Latin: “glory”
55	Evelyn	89,054	Common global name in Ghana
56	Mavis	88,155	Very common in Ghana
57	Frederick	87,256	Germanic: “peaceful ruler”
58	Solomon	87,144	Hebrew: “peace”
59	Victoria	85,852	Latin: “victory”
60	Thomas	85,796	Aramaic: “twin”
61	Mercy	82,649	Virtue name: “mercy”
62	Bright	78,941	Virtue name: “bright”
63	Eunice	78,716	Greek: “good victory”
64	Beatrice	78,210	Latin: “bringer of happiness”
65	Evans	77,199	Common global name in Ghana
66	Priscilla	76,413	Common global name in Ghana
67	Cynthia	74,390	Common global name in Ghana
68	Janet	74,390	Common global name in Ghana
69	Sarah	73,603	Hebrew: “princess”
70	Abdulai	72,760	Variant of Abdullah: “servant of God”
71	Rebecca	72,367	Hebrew: commonly glossed “to bind/captivate”
72	Joshua	72,086	Hebrew: “God is salvation”
73	Faustina	71,918	Common in Ghana (often Catholic usage)
74	Alfred	71,524	Old English: “elf counsel”
75	Kwasi	71,019	Akan day name: Sunday-born male
76	Vida	70,344	Common in West Africa
77	Comfort	70,288	Virtue name: “comfort”
78	Lydia	70,176	Greek: “woman of Lydia”
79	Doris	69,445	Greek-rooted name common in Ghana
80	Victor	67,591	Latin: “conqueror”
81	Agnes	~65,000	Greek: “pure/holy”
82	Afia	~64,000	Friday-born female variant (Akan day naming pattern)
83	Adjoa	~63,000	Monday-born female (Akan day naming pattern)
84	Akosua	~62,500	Sunday-born female (Akan day naming pattern)
85	Ama	~62,000	Saturday-born female (Akan day naming pattern)
86	Abena	~61,000	Tuesday-born female (Akan day naming pattern)
87	Yaa	~60,500	Thursday-born female (Akan day naming pattern)
88	Akua	~60,000	Wednesday-born female (Akan day naming pattern)
89	Kojo	~59,000	Monday-born male; also spelled Kwadwo (Akan day naming pattern)
90	Sylvia	~57,000	Latin-rooted name common in Ghana
91	Harriet	~56,500	Common global name in Ghana
92	Nii	~56,000	Ga name/title used as a first name
93	Mensah	~55,000	Akan name often used as surname and first name
94	Adwoa	~54,500	Monday-born female variant (Akan day naming pattern)
95	Collins	~54,000	Common in Ghana as a first name
96	Augustina	~53,500	Common in Ghana (often Catholic usage)
97	Cecilia	~53,000	Common in Ghana (often Catholic usage)
98	Efua	~52,500	Friday-born female variant (Akan day naming pattern)
99	Opoku	~52,000	Akan name used as first name and surname
100	Owusu	~51,500	Akan name used as first name and surname

Note: Ranks 1 to 80 match the incidence values displayed in the Forebears Ghana forenames listing. The final 20 items were presented as approximate counts.

Key takeaways (what this list says about Ghana)

Christian names dominate the top 20, which fits Ghana’s census-reported religious makeup.
Akan day names remain mainstream (Kofi, Kwame, Yaw, Kwabena, Kwaku, Kwasi and many female equivalents).
Arabic-rooted Muslim names are firmly represented (Mohammed, Ibrahim, Abdul, Abdulai), consistent with census-based summaries of Islam’s share of the population.
Virtue names are unusually common in everyday life compared to many countries, and they rank high nationally (Gifty, Grace, Patience, Mercy, Comfort, Bright).

Most Common Ghanaian Names: Top 100 and Meanings (2026)

Quick facts about the most common Ghanaian names