The Akan people frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. These names have spread through West Africa, from Benin/Danhomey (Fon) and Togo (Ewe) to the Côte d'Ivoire (Baoulé), and throughout the African diaspora. The Akan people are an ethnic group of West Africa. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... Motto: Fraternité, Justice, Travail (French: Fellowship, Justice, Labour) Anthem: LAube Nouvelle Capital Porto Novo, Cotonou1 Largest city Cotonou Official language(s) French Government Multiparty dem. ... Fon is a major West African ethnic and linguistic group in the country of Benin or Dahomey. ... The Ewe people are a people of southern Ghana and Togo. ... Baoule is a language spoken in Côte dIvoire. ... The African diaspora or Afro diaspora is the diaspora created by the movements and culture of Africans and their descendants throughout the world, to places such as the Americas, (including the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America) Europe and Asia . ...

As examples, Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, was so named for being born on a Saturday (Kwame) and being the ninth born (Nkrumah). Also, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, was so named for being born on a Friday (Kofi) and being the fourth born (Annan). Kwame Nkrumah (September 21, 1909 – April 27, 1972) was an African anti-colonial leader, founder and first president of the modern Ghanaian state and one of the most influential Pan-Africanists of the 20th century. ... A large number of international organizations and other bodies have a Secretary General or Secretary-General as their chief administrative officers or in other administrative capacities. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

In the official orthography of the Twi language, the Ashanti versions of these names as spoken in Kumasi are as follows. The diacritics on á a̍ à represent high, mid, and low tone (tone does not need to be marked on every vowel), while the diacritic on a̩ is used for vowel harmony and can be ignored. (Diacritics are frequently dropped in any case.) Variants of the names are used in other languages, or may represent different transliteration schemes. The variants mostly consist of different affixes (in Ashanti, kwa- or ko- for men and a- plus -a or -wa for women). For example, among the Fante, the prefixes are kwe- and e-, respectively. Akan d̩wo is pronounced something like English Joe, but there do appear to be two sets of names for those born on Tuesday. Twi (pronounced chwee ) is a language spoken in Ghana by about 7 million people. ... Flag of the Ashanti people The Ashanti (also Asante) are a major ethnic group in Ghana. ... Kumasi is the capital city of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. ... Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... Look up affix in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the writer, see John Fante. ...

There are also special names for elder and younger twins. The second twin to be born is considered the elder as they were mature enough to help their sibling out first.

There are also names based on the order born, the order born after twins, and the order born after remarriage.

Other Names

• Seventh Born - Ansong
• Eighth Born - Awotwie
• Ninth Born - Nkrumah
• Tenth Born - Badu
• God-given - Nyamekye

References

• J.E. Redden and N. Owusu (1963, 1995). Twi Basic Course. Foreign Service Institute (Hippocrene reprint). ISBN 0-7818-0394-2
• Florence Abena Dolphyne (1996). A comprehensive course in Twi (Asante) for the Non-Twi learner. Ghana Universities Press, Accra. ISBN 9664-3-0245-2