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Kanaloa

#6,271 in 2025Boys' name

From Proto-Polynesian *Tangaloa; literal meaning unconfirmed

Kanaloa has been given to 121 babies in the U.S. since 2008. In 2025 it ranked #6,271 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 19 recorded.

Babies named Kanaloa, 2025

1 in 237,000

Kanaloa over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kanaloa: meaning, origin, and history

From Proto-Polynesian *Tangaloa; literal meaning unconfirmed

Hawaiian

What Kanaloa means

Kanaloa is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Kanaloa is used in Hawaiian. Its origins include Hawaiian.

Kanaloa comes through Proto-Polynesian *Tangaloa.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Hawaiian, Kanaloa is pronounced /ˌka.naˈlo.a/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 121 boys were recorded with the name Kanaloa between 2008 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2024; its best national rank was #5,160 in 2024.

Over 10 years its rank rose, from #10,082 in 2015 to #6,271 in 2025.

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 Kanaloa?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 237,000
14 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 122,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#6,271
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
164,137 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kanaloa sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 164,137 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kanaloa. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kanaloas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kanaloa was born before 2021 — so the typical Kanaloa is around 4 today.

Median birth year
2021
About 4 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
50.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
121
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 50.4% of all recorded uses (61).

Is Kanaloa 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
−1,111
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
+3,811
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
73.7%
Peak was 2024 (19)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,160
2024

Spellings of Kanaloa

Kanaloa is not the most common spelling — Kanoa is, with 87.8% against Kanaloa's 12.2%.

  • Kanoa87.8%867
  • Kanaloa12.2%121

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 Kanaloa is used

Across 1910–2025, Kanaloa was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 14,286 boys, against 1 in 14,903 across all states with data.

77 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Hawaii1 in 14,286

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Kanaloa has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kanaloa by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,271
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#5,160
2024
Peak year
2024
19 that year
First recorded
2008
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
121
Count in 2025
14

Names similar to Kanaloa

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

KanishkKansasKanekiKannenKaneloKannanKanavKantonKannynKanielKandonKandenKanaiKanielaKantrellKanariKanninKanoKanardKanaanKanenKanyonKanavisKanyen

Sibling names for Kanaloa

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 Kanaloa

Top names of 2024, Kanaloa's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Boys' names starting with K