Aloha
Feminine · “love”
Aloha is not only a greeting. Hawaiian uses it for love, for compassion, for the quality of treating people well — and the state has written it into law: a statute directs officials to consider the aloha spirit, which it defines, when carrying out their duties. Very few words used as names have a legal definition attached.
How old is the name Aloha?
Aloha first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Aloha alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 400 people named Aloha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aloha most popular?
Aloha peaked in 1933, reaching #1244 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 13,698 places below that high. See the whole 1933 chart.
Where it comes from
From aloha to Aloha
The story of Aloha
Hawaiian was suppressed in schools for most of the twentieth century and has been the subject of a serious revival since the 1980s. Aloha is the one word from it that everyone in the world knows, and it entered American naming early — the record shows it from 1913, with a peak in 1933, which is the period when Hawaii was an American possession and a heavy object of mainland fascination. Almost none of that use was Hawaiian, and that is worth stating plainly.
Meaning
love, compassion, mercy; a greeting
From the Hawaiian aloha, which covers love, affection, compassion, kindness and grace, and is used as both greeting and farewell. The related word alo means presence or face, and ha is breath — the traditional reading is a sharing of breath in another's presence, which is what the honi greeting actually is.
How the name formed
- aloha
- Aloha
Related forms: Aloha · Aroha · Alofa
Pronouncing Aloha
ah-LOH-hah
Three syllables, stress in the middle, every vowel fully sounded — Hawaiian has no reduced vowels, which is why the word sounds so even. English speakers usually get it right, since the word is universally familiar.
Nicknames for Aloha
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 192833 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1244reached in 1933
- Change vs 2020
- −37.5%5 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Aloha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aloha in Hawaiian — same name
- Aroha in Maori — related form
- Alofa in Samoan — related form
Alohas among us
people named Aloha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Aloha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Dominica test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aloha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dominica climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dominica's path sketches the road Aloha is walking now.
Aloha sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Aloha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aloha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is unusually generous and takes a sentence rather than a word to give.
- Everyone in the English-speaking world can say it and spell it.
- Three open syllables that sit well after almost any surname.
- The related words in Maori and Samoan show a genuine Polynesian family, which is a good thing to be able to point at.
- It is a Hawaiian word, and its use by families with no connection to Hawaii is something a number of Hawaiians object to, with reasons worth hearing.
- It is a greeting first, and a child will be greeted with their own name constantly.
- It belongs to an early twentieth-century American fashion for the islands, which is not the most comfortable history.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Aloha to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Aloha? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Aloha
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alohas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Aloha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Aloha in 2025?
- Aloha ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aloha?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Aloha — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aloha with classmates?
- Aloha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aloha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aloha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aloha and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle