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Kawai

#11,347 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

The + water

Kawai has been given to 111 babies in the U.S. since 2008. In 2025 it ranked #11,347 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2020, with 16 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 95% boys, 5% girls all-time.

Babies named Kawai, 2025

1 in 553,000

Kawai over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Kawai over time

In 2025, Kawai went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

20082025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Kawai: meaning, origin, and history

The + water

Hawaiian

What Kawai means

Kawai means “the + water”, associated with ka and wai.

Origin, language, and formation

Kawai is used in Hawaiian. Its origins include Hawaiian.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Hawaiian, Kawai is pronounced /kaˈwai̯/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 106 boys were recorded with the name Kawai between 2008 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 16 in 2020; its best national rank was #5,573 in 2020.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,573 in 2020 to #11,347 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #10,097 in 2015 to #11,347 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Kawai between 2016 and 2016. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2016; its best national rank was #17,558 in 2016.

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 Kawai?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#11,347
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kawai 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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kawai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kawais were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kawai was born before 2019 — so the typical Kawai is around 6 today.

Median birth year
2019
About 6 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
50.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
106
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 50.0% of all recorded uses (53).

Is Kawai 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
−5,774
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,250
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.86×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
37.5%
Peak was 2020 (16)
Years since peak
5
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
42.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,573
2020

Spellings of Kawai

Kawai is not the most common spelling — Kai is, with 48.8% against Kawai's 0.07%.

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 Kawai is used

Across 1910–2025, Kawai was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 3,486,540 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

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. Kawai has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kawai by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,347
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 5,774
Best rank ever
#5,573
2020
Peak year
2020
16 that year
First recorded
2008
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
106
Count in 2025
6

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#17,558
2016
Peak year
2016
5 that year
First recorded
2016
Last recorded
2016
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kawai

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

KawhiKawanKawonKawikaKawligaKawaskiKawaunKawKawenaKawaiiWaiKawuanKaweloKawayneKawaiolaKahawai

Sibling names for Kawai

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 Kawai

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