Adekunle
Adekunle is a Yoruba name meaning "the crown has arrived".
Name Census estimates that about 80 living Americans carry the first name Adekunle. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Adekunle today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Adekunle births was 1993 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Adekunle. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Adekunle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Adekunle. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
80
~ 1 in 4,284,429 Americans
Peak year
1993
11 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2022 SSA rank
#9,835
Tracked since 1981
Census
Adekunle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 747 people with the first name Adekunle, which placed it at #15,407 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#15,407
National first-name rank
People counted
747
747 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
97.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Adekunle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adekunle is Black at 97.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.5%) and White (0.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Adekunle described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Adekunle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American97.6% · 729
- Two or more races1.5% · 11
- White0.5% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Popularity
Adekunle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Adekunle from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 31 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Adekunle by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Adekunle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Adekunle
The name Adekunle originates from the Yoruba culture of West Africa, primarily among the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. It is a combination of two words: "Ade," meaning "crown" or "royalty," and "Kunle," a shortened form of "Okunleru," meaning "he who is filled with knowledge." Thus, Adekunle can be interpreted as "the crown or royalty filled with knowledge."
The Yoruba people have a rich cultural heritage that dates back centuries, and their naming traditions hold significant importance. Adekunle was likely a name given to male children born into royal or noble families, signifying the expectation that they would grow up to be wise and knowledgeable leaders.
While there are no specific historical references to the name Adekunle in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the concept of naming children after desirable qualities or aspirations is deeply rooted in Yoruba culture. The earliest recorded examples of individuals bearing the name Adekunle can be traced back to the 17th and 18th centuries.
One notable historical figure named Adekunle was Adekunle Fajuyi (1926-1966), a Nigerian military officer and the first military governor of the Western Region of Nigeria. He was assassinated during the Nigerian counter-coup of 1966. Adekunle Ajashin (1837-1905) was a renowned warrior and military leader from the town of Ibadan, known for his bravery and strategic skills in defending the city against various invaders.
Another prominent individual with the name Adekunle was Adekunle Ajasin (1908-1997), a Nigerian politician and leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). He served as the Governor of Ondo State from 1979 to 1983. Adekunle Olumofin (born 1950) is a Nigerian academic and educator who has held various leadership positions in Nigerian universities.
Adekunle Gold (born 1987) is a contemporary Nigerian singer and songwriter, known for his fusion of Afropop, reggae, and high-life music. He has gained widespread popularity and critical acclaim for his music, which often draws inspiration from Yoruba culture and traditions.
While the name Adekunle has its roots in the Yoruba culture of Nigeria, it has also been adopted by individuals of other ethnic groups within West Africa, as well as by members of the African diaspora around the world. However, the historical and cultural significance of the name remains closely tied to its Yoruba origins.
People
Adekunle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Adekunle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Adekunle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Adekunle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 80 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Adekunle going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 4,284,429 US residents.
Is Adekunle a common name?
We classify Adekunle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 82 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Adekunle most popular?
The single biggest year for Adekunle was 1993, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Adekunle is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Adekunle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 747 people with the name Adekunle, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,407 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Adekunle in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Adekunle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Adekunle appears almost entirely male. Of the 745 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Adekunle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adekunle is Black at 97.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.5%) and White (0.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Adekunle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Adekunle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.6% (729 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Adekunle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Adekunle a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Adekunle in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Adekunle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Adekunle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Adekunle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Adekunle?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Adekunle, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.