Where did the baby name Kanye come from in 2002?

Kanye West
Kanye West

The name Kanye debuted in the SSA’s baby name data in 2002. It saw peak usage just two years later, in 2004:

  • 2007: 53 boys named Kanye
  • 2006: 101 boys named Kanye
  • 2005: 202 boys (and 5 girls) named Kanye [rank: 893rd]
  • 2004: 509 boys (and 19 girls) named Kanye [rank: 486th]
  • 2003: 87 boys named Kanye
  • 2002: 5 boys named Kanye
  • 2001: unlisted

Also in 2004, the similar names Kanyae, Jakanye and Dekanye debuted, and the name Kanya popped up for the first time as a boy name.

The influence, of course, was rapper/producer Kanye (pronounced kahn-yay) West.

His successful debut album, The College Dropout (2004), is what boosted the name to peak usage. Even before that, though, he was becoming famous as an in-house producer for Roc-A-Fella Records. He worked on Jay-Z’s 2001 album The Blueprint, for instance.

How did he come to have the name “Kanye”? Here’s what his late mother Donda West wrote in her 2007 book Raising Kanye:

Only one thing was missing — the perfect name for the perfect baby. With all of the excitement around the pregnancy, we’d never picked out names. So my mother and I began thumbing through this book of African names I’d bought. I was very Afrocentric and so was Ray. We wanted our child to have a name that represented his culture and stood for something. We wanted him to have a strong name.

Mother and I found the name “Kanye” in this book. It was an Ethiopian name that meant “the only one.” I knew he would be our only child, set apart, and special.

My mother found his middle name in the Os. She chose “Omari,” which means “wise man.” Kanye Omari West. Mother pointed out that his initials would be K.O. She liked that it stood for knockout. We asked Ray about the names and he was cool with both Kanye for the first name and Omari as the middle name. So we made it official.

(I haven’t been able to confirm this particular origin/meaning of Kanye — or even figure out which name-book Donda was using — but I can tell you that there’s a village in Botswana called Kanye, which is interesting.)

What are your thoughts on the name Kanye? Would you considering using it?

Sources:

  • Kanye West – Wikipedia
  • West, Donda, Karen Hunter, Kanye West. Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar. New York: Pocket Books, 2007.

P.S. Yeezy has never been in the data, but Ye has.

7 thoughts on “Where did the baby name Kanye come from in 2002?

  1. Your timing is incredible!
    Kanye West just filed court papers in LA to change his name to Ye. Not Ye West, just Ye.

  2. Seriously?! That is so ridiculous.

    *

    Edited to add…quote from the Seattle Times: “The Los Angeles Superior Court filing says the 44-year-old wants to get rid of his full name — Kanye Omari West — in favor of just his longtime two-letter nickname, Ye, with no middle name or last name.” The court documents were filed earlier today. How crazy! (Source)

  3. Even though “personal reasons” is what was stated in the paperwork, it very well could be a beneficial business move as well since it’s so easily associated with his Yeezy brand.

    Honestly, I think extreme wealth is often an amplifier for various personal traits and it often stifles any contradictory opinions. In Kanye’s case he’s been very successful but is definitely a bit odd at times and his extreme wealth probably means that if he decided to change his name to Hamster his inner circle wouldn’t risk telling him they think it’s a bad idea. And it could be worse, he could have gone with something like Princess Consuela Bananahammock.

  4. Haha, Princess Consuela. :)

    I agree with you about extreme wealth. The people around that one wealthy person are often dependent upon that person, so they are unlikely to challenge him/her very often, if at all. (This brings to mind the circumstances surrounding the recent death of Tony Hsieh.)

    That said, I don’t think “Ye” is the worst name imaginable. And it’s rather on-brand for Kanye to say/do unexpected things. It’s just a lot of effort to legally change a name…and I imagine living in the modern world with a mononym would be a hassle. I just wonder why he wanted to make the change official (as opposed to simply using “Ye” as a stage name).

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