Keala
Feminine · “Hawaiian ke ala”
Keala is given to both — 853 girls and 28 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Ala means both a path and a fragrance in Hawaiian, and the double meaning is not an accident to be resolved. Hawaiian composition uses kaona, deliberate hidden meaning, as a formal principle: a chant or a name is expected to work on more than one level at once, and choosing between them misses the point.
How old is the name Keala?
Keala first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Keala alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 800 people named Keala are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Keala most popular?
Keala peaked in 2005, reaching #3126 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 5,734 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ke ala to Keala
The story of Keala
Kaona is a recognized principle of Hawaiian poetry and naming: a composition is built to carry a surface meaning and one or more concealed ones, and skill lies in constructing them so that both are complete. Chants about landscape can be about people, chants about weather can be about desire, and the concealment was often necessary as well as artistic, since the meanings were not always safe to state. Names participate in this. A name given for an event at a birth might describe the event obliquely, and a name with two lexical senses is not ambiguous so much as doubled. That makes Hawaiian names resistant to the kind of single-line gloss a reference work wants: Keala means the path and it means the fragrance, and a Hawaiian speaker holds both without difficulty. The practice extends to place names, which is why Hawaiian toponymy is unusually dense with meaning.
Meaning
Hawaiian ke ala, the path or the fragrance
From Hawaiian ke, the definite article, and ala, which means a path or road and also a fragrance or sweet scent. Both senses are current and a name can carry either or both. Keala is used for men and women alike. It peaks in the American data in 2005.
How the name formed
- ke ala
- Keala
Related forms: Keala
Pronouncing Keala
keh-AH-lah
Three syllables, stress on the second, every vowel fully pronounced. English speakers say kee-AH-lah, lengthening the first vowel, which Hawaiian does not do.
Nicknames for Keala
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
- 1969
- Most girls named
- 200636 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3126reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- −38.9%11 in 2025, from 18
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.
Keala in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Keala in Hawaiian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Kealas among us
people named Keala are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Keala
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 Annalea test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Keala's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Annalea climbed just as high around 1923, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Annalea's path sketches the road Keala is walking now.
Keala 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
Keala beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Keala 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 settled and doubled, which is a feature rather than a problem.
- It is used for both sexes in Hawaiian.
- The sound is smooth and easy to say.
- English speakers lengthen the first vowel.
- Kiala and Keyala are near neighbors from other traditions.
- It is rare outside Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families.
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What they receive
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Keala
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kealas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Keala are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Keala in 2025?
- Keala ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Keala?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Keala — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Keala with classmates?
- Keala will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Keala
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keala? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Keala and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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