About Leilani
Leilani is a Hawaiian name commonly translated as “heavenly lei” or “royal child.” It joins lei with lani, bringing together floral, familial, and celestial imagery. Pronounced approximately lay-LAH-nee, it has three syllables and a strong middle stress. Its history includes Hawaiian naming traditions, a famous film song, and a much newer rise in American use.
Meaning and sound
Lei is familiar as the Hawaiian word for a garland, often made of flowers, and it can also carry an affectionate sense connected with a child. Lani means “sky” or “heaven” and also has royal or exalted associations.
These senses account for the name’s traditional translations. “Heavenly lei” emphasizes the garland and sky, while “royal child” draws on the affectionate and chiefly meanings of the same elements.
The Hawaiian pronunciation is approximately lay-LAH-nee. The opening lei flows into the stressed la, followed by a clear nee ending. Leilany is a modern English variant spelling. Lei or Lani could be everyday shortenings, each retaining one of the name’s meaningful parts.
A song that traveled
“Sweet Leilani” helped bring the name to audiences outside Hawaiʻi. Bing Crosby performed it in the 1937 film Waikiki Wedding, giving the Hawaiian name a prominent place in a Hollywood musical setting.
Harry Owens received the Academy Award for the song at the 1938 ceremony.
The title itself made Leilani visible to listeners who might not otherwise have encountered the name. This early popular-culture connection predates the much larger numbers of American babies receiving it in the twenty-first century.
Leilani Münter
Racing driver and environmental advocate Leilani Münter provides a modern bearer with a different public career. With a background in biology, she has used her racing appearances to bring environmental messages to a sporting audience.
Her cars have carried messages about renewable energy and documentaries concerned with marine wildlife. Her work also includes advocacy for electric vehicles, solar power, and animal protection.
Münter appears in the documentary Racing Extinction. The connection gives Leilani a contemporary association that crosses sport, environmental work, and film, alongside its older musical history.
American popularity
Leilani was given to 74 American girls in 1950 and 223 in 1980. The rise became more pronounced later: 505 girls received it in 2000 and 1,226 in 2010.
Its strongest year was 2022, with 3,868 births and a rank of 59th. In 2025, it remained close to that level, with 3,792 girls and a rank of 60th.
The recent record shows sustained high use rather than a brief spike, with the name now far more common nationally than during its earlier film-song era.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Meaning and history draw on the references below. American popularity uses the local Social Security Administration series for this exact spelling and sex; counts below five are omitted. Existing Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA. Suggested shortenings are identified in the prose.
How popular is Leilani?
In 2025, Leilani ranked #60 among girls in the United States, with 3,792 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1917; its largest annual count was 3,868 in 2022. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.