Fun Facts About the Name Afia
- 619 babies named Afia: U.S. records list 619 babies given the name Afia from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Afia Mean?
Afia is a girl's name with two separate origins. In Arabic it represents ʿāfiyah (عافية), a noun meaning "health," "well-being," and "soundness," built on the root ʿ-f-w, whose core sense is pardoning, wiping away, or restoring to wholeness. The literal idea is freedom from illness or harm, and the word is used in everyday Arabic as a wish for someone's good health.
The same spelling is also an Akan day name from Ghana. In the Akan system of day names, a girl born on Friday is called Afua, and Afia is a common variant spelling; its meaning is simply "born on Friday." Arabic ʿāfiyah and Akan Afia are unrelated, so the name's meaning depends on which tradition a family follows.
Afia Name History & Origins
Arabic ʿāfiyah comes from a root that appears in the Qur'an in the sense of pardoning and passing over faults. The noun itself is familiar from a well-known Islamic supplication asking God for al-ʿafwa wa-l-ʿāfiyah - pardon and health - and from the phrases used to wish a sick person recovery. As a given name it is used in Arabic-speaking countries and in Muslim communities in Iran, Pakistan, and elsewhere, generally for girls. The word also passed into other languages: Swahili afya means "health," and Urdu ʿāfiyat carries the same sense.
Akan day names belong to a system in which a child receives a name from the day of the week of birth, alongside other names given later. For girls, the Friday name is Afua, often spelled Afia in records and families; the matching male Friday name is Kofi. The names are tied to the Akan calendar and to the naming ceremonies that go with it, and they remain in use in Ghana and among Akan communities abroad. Because the Arabic and Akan names look alike in English letters, they are sometimes treated as a single name, but the two traditions developed independently.
How Popular is the Name Afia?
Afia has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2024. Its best rank was #4,647 in 2020.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #5,102 | 25 | 0.0016% |
| 2024 | #4,653 | 29 | 0.0018% |
| 2023 | #5,963 | 20 | 0.0012% |
| 2022 | #6,983 | 16 | 0.0010% |
| 2021 | #6,697 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 2020 | #4,647 | 28 | 0.0017% |
| 2019 | #5,797 | 21 | 0.0013% |
| 2018 | #6,526 | 18 | 0.0011% |
| 2017 | #5,517 | 23 | 0.0013% |
| 2016 | #8,889 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2015 | #5,658 | 23 | 0.0013% |
| 2014 | #7,647 | 15 | 0.0008% |
| 2013 | #7,040 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 2012 | #6,584 | 19 | 0.0011% |
| 2011 | #7,789 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 2010 | #7,890 | 15 | 0.0008% |
| 2009 | #6,553 | 20 | 0.0011% |
| 2008 | #8,984 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2007 | #5,233 | 27 | 0.0014% |
| 2006 | #6,849 | 18 | 0.0009% |
| 2005 | #7,149 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2004 | #5,975 | 20 | 0.0011% |
| 2003 | #6,582 | 17 | 0.0009% |
| 2002 | #7,450 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 2001 | #10,121 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2000 | #8,035 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1999 | #9,494 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1998 | #10,141 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1997 | #10,855 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1996 | #11,826 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1995 | #13,421 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1994 | #9,598 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1993 | #6,622 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 1992 | #13,338 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1991 | #13,178 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1989 | #8,768 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1986 | #8,534 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1984 | #10,435 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1982 | #9,243 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1979 | #8,062 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1978 | #9,759 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1977 | #9,660 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1976 | #8,164 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1975 | #6,489 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1974 | #8,790 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1973 | #8,432 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1972 | #6,562 | 7 | 0.0005% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Afia Shapes Your Personality and Life?
Powerful and complete. You are good intellectually and require several outlets for your energies. You are not a builder but a planner, and you want others to carry out your plans. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Afia's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Afia's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.