Twins are special in southern Ghana, and every people marks them with names of their own - not only for the twins, but for the children born after them. Meet an Atta, an Atsu or an Akweley and you are meeting a twin; meet a Tawiah and you are meeting the child born next.
Akan
- The twins: Ata for a boy, Ataa for a girl, beside their day names - Kofi Annan’s twin sister was Efua Atta. The pair can also be called Atta Panyin, “the elder”, and Atta Kakra, “the younger”.
- The children after them: Tawia, then Nyankomago, then a few further names in order.
Wikipedia’s article on Akan names records that the twin born first is often counted the younger, because the elder is believed to have stayed behind to help the younger out. The names are from Kofi Agyekum’s study of Akan names (2006).
Ewe
From a University of Ghana study of Ewe names (2014):
| Twins | Names |
|---|---|
| Two boys | Atsu and Etse |
| Two girls | Eɣi and Ɣetsa |
| A boy and a girl | Atsu and Atsuƒi |
The child born after twins is Do, for a boy or a girl. Twins are believed to leave a hole behind them, and Do is born to fill it. After Do come Dotse, Do’s younger brother, or Doƒui, Do’s younger sister.
Ga
From a Ghana News Agency feature on Ga naming (2024):
| Twins | Names |
|---|---|
| Two boys | Akwete and Akuete, or Oko and Akuete |
| Two girls | Akweley and Akuorkor |
| A boy and a girl | Oko and Akweley |
The children after twins are Tawiah, Agoe and Abam, for a boy or a girl. A mother who has a second set of twins adds Tawiah to their names - Oko Tawiah, Akweley Tawiah.
Sources disagree about which boy is Akwete and which is Oko. Ask the family.
One name, two peoples
Tawia (Akan) and Tawiah (Ga) are the same name for the same child, the one born after twins - one of many names the two peoples share in Accra.
— All Ghanaian day names — What Akan names mean — Ewe names — Ga and Dangme names