Klani
Feminine · “heavenly”
Klani joins a K front to the Hawaiian -lani, the sky — a genuine ending clipped down to almost nothing else.
How old is the name Klani?
Klani first appears in US birth records in 2007 — 18 years ago. The typical Klani is a kid of about 3 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Klani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Klani most popular?
Klani peaked in 2024, reaching #2282 nationally. Today it ranks #2354, 72 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From lani to Klani
Our story of Klani
Our story of Klani is a story of a language's rule broken outside it. Hawaiian permits no consonant clusters and every syllable ends in a vowel, so Klani could not be a Hawaiian word — Kalani, with the article ka, is the real name. American families clipped it in the 2010s alongside Kylani, Nylani and Ahlani. The -lani ending means the sky in a living language and always has; the form here is not one that language would make.
Meaningscholars disagree
heavenly
The lani element is genuine Hawaiian for 'sky', 'heaven' or 'royal'. The K front is not a Hawaiian element on its own; Hawaiian ka is the article, giving Kalani. Klani drops the vowel, which Hawaiian phonology does not permit. The ending is inherited; the form is not.
How the name formed
- lani
- Klani
Related forms: Kalani · Kelani
Pronouncing Klani
KLAH-nee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Hawaiian Kalani has three.
Nicknames for Klani
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
- 2007
- Most girls named
- 202481 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2282reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −4.9%77 in 2025, from 81
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.
Klani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kalani in Hawaiian — related form
- Kelani in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Florida.
Klanis among us
people named Klani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 20,874 born in 2025 was named Klani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Klani
- #2354
- Klani on the 2025 chart
- #862
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Klani went to 77 girls in 2025, but Khlani and Klanii are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 98, which makes it the 862nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,492 places above the chart.
- Klani77
- Khlani16
- Klanii5
About 1 girl in 16,401 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 20,874 for Klani 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 Ashanty test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Klani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ashanty climbed just as high around 2003, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ashanty's path sketches the road Klani is walking now.
Klani 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 Klani is headed
Klani looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 29% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Klani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Klani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The lani ending is genuinely Hawaiian and its meaning is undisputed.
- Lani is available as a short form that is a real Hawaiian name.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The consonant cluster is impossible in Hawaiian.
- Kalani is the genuine form and is close in sound.
- It is very new in American records.
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What they receive
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Klani
Feminine · #2354 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Klanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Klani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Klani?
- Klani is the most-used spelling in US records — 77 of the 98 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Khlani and Klanii.
- How popular is the name Klani in 2025?
- Klani ranks #2354 among US girl names in 2025, with 77 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Klani?
- About 1 in every 20,874 US girls born in 2025 was named Klani — 77 in all.
- Will my child share the name Klani with classmates?
- Klani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Klani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eunice#2354 · Aislyn#2354 · Adilynn#2354 · Alyza#2354 · Roxana#2354 · Ameena#2354 · Laniyah#2354 · Naira#2354
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Klani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Klani and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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