of Ghana frequently name their children after the day of the week they
were born and the order in which they were born. These "day names" have further meanings concerning the soul and character of the person. Middle names have considerably more variety and can refer to their birth order, twin status,
or an ancestor's middle name. This naming tradition is shared throughout West Africa and the African diaspora. During the 18th–19th centuries, enslaved people in the Caribbean from the region that is modern-day Ghana were referred to as Coromantees.
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.
These Akan names signify the day one is born. According to Akan tradition, each child is born with a name associated to their soul. The day the child is born is therefore determined by the soul.
The well thought and organized naming system of the Akan’s was initiated by the ancestors and has attracted so many people’s attention as they desire to know more about these names. As a matter of fact, it is possible to tell what led to someone’s birth,
the day they were born and their rank among the siblings just by their names.
