Ilani
Feminine · “my tree”
Ilani is a Hebrew word for my tree — ilan with a possessive — and it also reads as Hawaiian through the -lani ending.
How old is the name Ilani?
Ilani first appears in US birth records in 1997 — 28 years ago. The typical Ilani is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Ilani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ilani most popular?
Ilani peaked in 2025, reaching #1880 nationally. Today it ranks #1880, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From ilan to Ilani
The story of Ilani
Ilan and Ilana belong to the wave of modern Hebrew names built on biblical and ordinary vocabulary, and Tu BiShvat is the new year of the trees. Separately, the Hawaiian -lani ending has been widely borrowed in American naming. Both routes brought Ilani to America, where it appears in the registers in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
my tree; heavenly
Two routes. The Hebrew ilan, 'tree', with the possessive ending — Ilana and Ilanit are related names. Or the Hawaiian lani, 'sky' or 'heaven', with a front element. Both are genuine and unrelated, and the American record does not distinguish them.
How the name formed
- ilan
- Ilani
Related forms: אילני · Leilani · Ileni
Pronouncing Ilani
ee-LAH-nee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hebrew places the stress on the final syllable.
Nicknames for Ilani
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
- 1997
- Most girls named
- 2025104 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1880reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +11.8%104 in 2025, from 93
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.
Ilani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- אילני in Hebrew — transliteration
- Leilani in Hawaiian — related form
- Ileni in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.
Ilanis among us
people named Ilani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 15,454 born in 2025 was named Ilani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ilani
- #1880
- Ilani on the 2025 chart
- #827
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ilani went to 104 girls in 2025, but Ilany and Iylani are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 133, which makes it the 827th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,053 places above the chart.
- Ilani104
- Ilany22
- Iylani7
About 1 girl in 12,085 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,454 for Ilani itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Breyanna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ilani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Breyanna climbed just as high around 1995, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Breyanna's path sketches the road Ilani is walking now.
Ilani is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ilani is headed
Ilani looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 41% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ilani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ilani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The my-tree reading is concrete and undisputed for the Hebrew route.
- Ila and Lani are two short forms, both real names elsewhere.
- Three syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- The two origins are entirely unrelated.
- Alani and Ilani are close enough to cause confusion.
- The stress placement differs between Hebrew and American readings.
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What they receive
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Ilani
Feminine · #1880 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ilanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Ilani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ilani?
- Ilani is the most-used spelling in US records — 104 of the 133 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ilany and Iylani.
- How popular is the name Ilani in 2025?
- Ilani ranks #1880 among US girl names in 2025, with 104 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ilani?
- About 1 in every 15,454 US girls born in 2025 was named Ilani — 104 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ilani with classmates?
- Ilani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ilani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kiari#1880 · Azuri#1880 · Samaria#1880 · Divine#1880 · Akari#1880 · Aashvi#1880 · Analiyah#1880 · Dhriti#1880
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ilani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ilani and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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