How rare is the name Kwame?

4,356 people in the United States have the first name Kwame, about 1 in 69,337. It ranks #4,337 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

KWAME

#4,337

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
4,356
About
1 in 69,337
This common or more
83.9%
Who bears it

Of the 4,356 people named Kwame, 92.1% reported their origin as Black, 3.7% as two or more races and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino. 98.9% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Kwame peaked in 1990, when 307 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19602025
Peak year
1990
Births that year
307
In 2025*
42 ▼86%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 3,993 babies have been given the name since 1960. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Kwame by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1990s, when it ranked #2,370. The largest share of babies named Kwame, 40.9%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1960s#6,177109
1970s#2,371708
1980s#2,850658
1990s#2,3701,212
2000s#4,873578
2010s#5,969461
2020s#6,083267
Baby boom 1946–641%
Generation X 1965–8020.9%
Millennials 1981–9640.9%
Generation Z 1997–1222.8%
2013 and later14.4%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Kwame is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Kwame has been most common in New York (4.4×), Maryland (3×), and Georgia (2.5×), and least common in Ohio (0.37×).

1,910 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Exactly as common as Kwame

1 other first name also has 4,356 people.

#4,337 Stefano · 4,356

Either side of Kwame

#4,335 Brain · 4,359#4,336 Yakov · 4,358#4,337 Stefano · 4,356#4,339 Karlene · 4,350

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Kwame, most common first.

#39,517 Kwane · 191#39,915 Kwami · 188

Compare