“Most people say that Dr Kwame Nkrumah did not name the country Ghana, but the name was rather brought by Dr J.B. Danquah.” This is a mistake not made by intention but ignorance,” Dr Yaw Anokye Frimpong stated, responding to the doubts in individuals’ minds about who named the country Ghana.

On Wednesday, March 18, 2026, on the Max Morning Live show, Dr Yaw Anokye Frimpong explained that Dr J.B. Danquah was a great man and had a great impact on the country, but in the year 1948, 9 years before independence, Dr Kwame Nkrumah established a school for teachers and students who had been displaced by the British and named it Ghana National College at Cape Coast.

“Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who was the General Secretary of the UGCC, not a Chairman and not a Vice Chairman, established a school on his own while he had no resources nor funds and named the school Ghana National College,” Dr Yaw Anokye Frimpong said.

“The name ‘Ghana’ already existed about 500 years ago.” Dr Yaw Anokye Frimpong made this statement in order to clarify the reports of people that claimed Dr Kwame Nkrumah used the acronym “God Has Appointed Nkrumah Already” to name the country Ghana.

He further explained that about 500 years ago there was a flourishing empire named the Ghana Empire, and that Ghana, in the Soninke language of that empire, meant “Warrior King” or “Great Warrior”.

Dr Yaw Anokye Frimpong also stated that the name ‘Ghana’ was also used by a professor abroad from Axim by the name of Professor Anthony William Amo, who was the first person to be called the ‘Black Star’ in the world, and that these are some of the things that influenced Dr Kwame Nkrumah to name the country Ghana.

Story by Samuella Mantebea Okanta