Keoni
Masculine · “God is gracious”
Keoni is given to both — 3,204 boys and 372 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Keoni is the Hawaiian of John, and the language reshaped it entirely — Hawaiian has eight consonants, so a borrowed name comes out transformed.
How old is the name Keoni?
Keoni first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Keoni alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 3,100 people named Keoni are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Keoni most popular?
Keoni peaked in 1999, reaching #1269 nationally. Today it ranks #2056, 787 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yochanan to Keoni
The story of Keoni
Missionaries wrote Hawaiian with thirteen letters, and biblical names entering the language had to be rebuilt from what it has — John became Ioane, then Keoni; Mary became Malia; David became Kawika. These are not translations but genuine phonological rebuilds. Keoni appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
God is gracious
Through John, from the Hebrew Yochanan, 'the Lord is gracious'. Hawaiian phonology has no j, and every syllable must end in a vowel, so Ioane and then Keoni emerged. The Hebrew meaning is undisputed; the transformation is a documented feature of the language.
How the name formed
- Yochanan
- John
- Ioane
- Keoni
Related forms: Keoni · Ioane · John
Pronouncing Keoni
kay-OH-nee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hawaiian gives every vowel a full value with no reduction.
Nicknames for Keoni
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
- 1968
- Most boys named
- 2013113 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1269reached in 1999
- Change vs 2024
- −25.0%72 in 2025, from 96
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.
Keoni in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Keoni in Hawaiian — same name
- Ioane in Hawaiian — related form
- John in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Hawaii, Washington.
Keonis among us
people named Keoni are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 23,723 born in 2025 was named Keoni
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 Karlos test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Keoni's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Karlos climbed just as high around 1974, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Karlos's path sketches the road Keoni is walking now.
Keoni 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
Where Keoni is headed
Keoni should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Keoni beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Keoni in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That Hawaiian rebuilt John from eight consonants is a first-rate piece of language history.
- The God-is-gracious meaning is transparent and undisputed.
- Three syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- It is a genuinely Hawaiian name and reads as one.
- Its connection to John is invisible without explanation.
- It will need spelling out on the mainland.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Keoni
Masculine · #2056 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Keonis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,100 people named Keoni are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Keoni in 2025?
- Keoni ranks #2056 among US boy names in 2025, with 72 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Keoni?
- About 1 in every 23,723 US boys born in 2025 was named Keoni — 72 in all.
- Will my child share the name Keoni with classmates?
- Keoni will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Keoni
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aylan#2056 · Lake#2056 · Alfie#2056 · Jamar#2056 · Farhan#2056 · Haider#2056 · Everardo#2056 · Hernan#2056
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Keoni? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Keoni and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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