 Kofi Annan was born in Kumasi in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) on 8 April 1938.His twin sister Efua Atta, who died in 1991, shared the middle name "Atta", which in the Akan language means 'twin'.Annan and his sister were born into one of the country's Ashanti and Fante aristocratic families; both of their grandfathers and their uncle were tribal chiefs.