Ashanti is the name of the Ashanti, or Asante, people of Ghana, whose powerful kingdom dominated West Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries; as a given name it signals "heritage of the Ashanti people" and is used mainly in African American families. The singer Ashanti, whose debut album topped the charts in 2002, made it famous. In the United States Ashanti jumped from number 1021 in 2000 to number 115 in 2002, then faded, and it stands at number 2102 among girls' names in 2025.