Onyekachi
A masculine Igbo name meaning "Who is like God".
Name Census estimates that about 107 living Americans carry the first name Onyekachi. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Onyekachi today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Onyekachi births was 2017 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Onyekachi. 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 Onyekachi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
107
~ 1 in 3,203,312 Americans
Peak year
2017
12 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2020 SSA rank
#9,314
Tracked since 1997
Census
Onyekachi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 297 people with the first name Onyekachi, which placed it at #29,680 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
#29,680
National first-name rank
People counted
297
297 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
95.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Onyekachi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Onyekachi is Black at 95.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Two or More Races (1.3%). 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 Onyekachi 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 Onyekachi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American95.3% · 283
- White1.7% · 5
- Two or more races1.3% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Onyekachi
Onyekachi leans heavily male at 85.2% of total registrations, but 16 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Onyekachi as a male name
- Ranked #9,314 in 2020
- 8 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2012 (10 births)
Onyekachi as a female name
- Ranked #17,791 in 2017
- 5 female births in 2017
- Peak: 1997 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Onyekachi on both sides of the split. Of the 289 people counted with this name, 186 were male (64.4%) and 103 were female (35.6%).
Popularity
Onyekachi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Onyekachi from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 53 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Onyekachi 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 Onyekachi 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 Onyekachi
The name Onyekachi originates from the Igbo language of southeastern Nigeria. It is a compound name formed from the combination of two Igbo words: "Onye" meaning "person" and "kachi" meaning "wealth". Therefore, Onyekachi can be translated to mean "a person's wealth" or "one whose wealth is a person".
This name has its roots in the cultural values and traditions of the Igbo people, who place great importance on the concept of wealth, not just in terms of material possessions but also in terms of relationships, knowledge, and personal growth. The name Onyekachi reflects this belief, suggesting that a person's true wealth lies in their character, achievements, and connections with others.
While the name Onyekachi has been in use among the Igbo people for centuries, its earliest recorded instances can be traced back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some notable individuals who bore this name throughout history include:
1. Onyekachi Wambu (c. 1880-1960), a prominent Igbo trader and community leader who played a significant role in the early 20th century economic development of southeastern Nigeria.
2. Onyekachi Okongwu (1925-2002), a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist who founded the Onyekachi Okongwu Foundation, which supports education and community development initiatives in Igboland.
3. Onyekachi Nwabu (1935-2018), a Nigerian artist and educator who is renowned for his contributions to the development of modern Nigerian art and his efforts in preserving Igbo cultural heritage.
4. Onyekachi Apakama (1943-2022), a Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist who dedicated her life to fighting for social justice and advocating for the rights of marginalized communities.
5. Onyekachi Chukwu (b. 1982), a Nigerian professional footballer who has played for various clubs in Nigeria, South Africa, and Europe, and has represented the Nigerian national team.
Throughout its history, the name Onyekachi has remained a popular choice among the Igbo people, reflecting their cultural values and serving as a reminder of the importance of personal growth, relationships, and the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.
People
Onyekachi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Onyekachi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Onyekachi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Onyekachi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 107 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Onyekachi 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 3,203,312 US residents.
Is Onyekachi a common name?
We classify Onyekachi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 108 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Onyekachi most popular?
The single biggest year for Onyekachi was 2017, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Onyekachi is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Onyekachi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 297 people with the name Onyekachi, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,680 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 Onyekachi 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 Onyekachi?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Onyekachi on both sides of the split. Of the 289 people counted with this name, 186 were male (64.4%) and 103 were female (35.6%). 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 Onyekachi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Onyekachi is Black at 95.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Two or More Races (1.3%). 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 Onyekachi most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Onyekachi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.3% (283 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 Onyekachi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Onyekachi a male name?
Yes, 85.2% of people registered as Onyekachi 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 Onyekachi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Onyekachi 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 Onyekachi 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 are called Onyekachi?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Onyekachi at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.