Kalani
Masculine · “the sky”
Kalani is given to both — 2,237 boys and 10,278 girls since 1880. See Kalani as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Kalani is Hawaiian for the heavens, and the same word names a chief — the sky and high rank were one idea.
How old is the name Kalani?
Kalani first appears in US birth records in 1959 — 66 years ago. The typical Kalani alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 2,200 people named Kalani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kalani most popular?
Kalani peaked in 2006, reaching #1724 nationally. Today it ranks #4707, 2,983 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ka lani to Kalani
The story of Kalani
Hawaiian chiefly names are often long compounds built around lani — Kamehameha's full name and those of his line run to many elements, and lani recurs through them because rank and the heavens were the same concept. The word is in Leilani, Kalani and Lani. The name is used for both sexes and reaches American records from Hawaii and beyond.
Meaning
the sky, the heavens; the royal one
From Hawaiian ka, the, and lani, sky or heaven; lani also means a high chief, and the two senses are inseparable in the language. It appears in many Hawaiian royal names.
How the name formed
- ka lani
- Kalani
Related forms: Kalani · Rangi
Pronouncing Kalani
kah-LAH-nee
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Every vowel is sounded in Hawaiian.
Nicknames for Kalani
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
- 1959
- Most boys named
- 200986 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1724reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −41.7%21 in 2025, from 36
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.
Kalani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kalani in Hawaiian — same name
- Rangi in Maori — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Hawaii, Florida.
Kalanis among us
people named Kalani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 81,337 born in 2025 was named Kalani
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 Kourtney test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kalani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kourtney climbed just as high around 1985, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kourtney's path sketches the road Kalani is walking now.
Kalani 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
Kalani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kalani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning joining the sky and high rank in one word.
- Lani is a complete name in its own right as a short form.
- Every vowel is sounded, so it reads correctly at first sight.
- It is a Hawaiian name, and Hawaiian families have views about its use.
- It is used for both sexes, so forms may guess wrong.
- Six letters and three syllables, manageable but not short.
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What they receive
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Kalani
Masculine · #4707 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kalanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,200 people named Kalani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kalani in 2025?
- Kalani ranks #4707 among US boy names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kalani?
- About 1 in every 81,337 US boys born in 2025 was named Kalani — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kalani with classmates?
- Kalani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kalani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ole#4707 · Shelton#4707 · Constantino#4707 · Adel#4707 · Cord#4707 · Zalman#4707 · Montez#4707 · Homer#4707
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kalani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kalani and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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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
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