Professor Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey, a prodigy, was born on Monday, 9th August 1932, and so should have been called Kojo, but was instead called “Kofi,” since he was given the full name of the paternal Uncle he was named after. He was born to a humble parentage at Saltpond in the Central Region of Ghana, to the late Mr. Joseph Kofi Allotey of the Royal Sempe Mankrado We (House) Accra, a general merchant who owned a store and sold books, fishing nets and general goods, and the late Mrs. Alice Esi Nyena Allotey, a dressmaker from the Royal Dehyena family of Enyan Owomase and Ekumfi Edumafa, in the Central Region of Ghana.