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Kailani

#253 in 2025Girls' name

Sea + sky

Kailani has been given to 12,823 babies in the U.S. since 1980. In 2025 it ranked #253 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 1,350 recorded.

Babies named Kailani, 2025

1 in 2,730

Kailani over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05001K1.5K18801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kailani: meaning, origin, and history

Sea + sky

Hawaiian

What Kailani means

Kailani means “sea + sky”, associated with kai and lani.

Origin, language, and formation

Kailani is used in Hawaiian. Its origins include Hawaiian.

Kailani is a modern formation.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Hawaiian, Kailani is pronounced /kai̯ˈla.ni/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 12,778 girls were recorded with the name Kailani between 1980 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 1,350 in 2022; its best national rank was #222 in 2022.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #282 in 2020 to #253 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #878 in 2015 to #253 in 2025.

In the United States, 45 boys were recorded with the name Kailani between 2007 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 8 in 2022; its best national rank was #9,335 in 2023.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kailani?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 2,730
1,215 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 1,320
0.08% of girls
Rank, 2025
#253
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
1,892 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kailani sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 301%
Grade of 1004%
School of 50017%

Put another way: gather 1,892 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kailani. In a class of 30 the chance is 1%.

When Kailanis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kailani was born before 2020 — so the typical Kailani is around 5 today.

Median birth year
2020
About 5 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
57.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
97.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
12,778
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 57.1% of all recorded uses (7,301).

Is Kailani rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+23
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+29
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+625
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
3.83×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
90.0%
Peak was 2022 (1,350)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#222
2022

Spellings of Kailani

Kailani is not the most common spelling — Leilani is, with 20.5% against Kailani's 4.6%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Kailani is used

Across 2016–2025, Kailani was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 150 girls, against 1 in 1,384 across all states with data. It was least common in South Dakota (1 in 5,882).

17667 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Hawaii1 in 150
  2. 2New Mexico1 in 617
  3. 3Nevada1 in 676
  4. 4Arizona1 in 1,020
  5. 5California1 in 1,087
  6. 6Florida1 in 1,099
  7. 7Mississippi1 in 1,099
  8. 8South Carolina1 in 1,111

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Kailani is one of the more regionally concentrated names in the country — more concentrated than 99% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Kailani around the world

Where Kailani ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2006–2025
    #5,927
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2024–2024
    #790
    in 2024
  • France
    2010–2025
    #3,081
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2015–2024
    #2,463
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2004–2007
    #803
    in 2007

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Kailani

People whose public names include Kailani, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Kailani by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#253
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 29
Best rank ever
#222
2022
Peak year
2022
1,350 that year
First recorded
1980
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
12,778
Count in 2025
1,215

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#9,335
2023
Peak year
2022
8 that year
First recorded
2007
Last recorded
2023
All-time count
45
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kailani

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

KaiulaniKaileeKailynKaimaniKailynnKaitlynnKaylaniKehlaniTiffaniKaitlinKaileyKaisleyKailaStefaniKaiyaKailanyKaiyaniArmaniKaidenceMilaniKeilaniKairiKalaniKaileigh

Names with a curve like Kailani

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Kailani, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

WrenLilithLennonSuttonNoaMaisieSaylorAlessiaAntonellaEsmeCollinsOakley

Sibling names for Kailani

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Kailani

Top names of 2022, Kailani's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2022Girls' names starting with KHawaiian Girl NamesHawaiian NamesOcean & Sea Names