Lani
Feminine · “sky”
Lani is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 7,373 girls against 183 boys since 1880.
Lani is the Hawaiian word for sky, heaven and royalty all at once — the language treats the highest place and the highest rank as the same idea.
How old is the name Lani?
Lani first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Lani alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 6,800 people named Lani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lani most popular?
Lani peaked in 1947, reaching #875 nationally. Today it ranks #1592, 717 places below that high. See the whole 1947 chart.
Lani appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From lani to Lani
The story of Lani
Lani appears in a very large share of Hawaiian names — Leilani, Kailani, Noelani, Kalani — and stands alone as a name in its own right. Hawaiian names entered general American use from the 1970s and accelerated in the 2010s. Lani appears in the American registers steadily and is in current use.
Meaning
sky, heaven, royal
From the Hawaiian lani, which carries all three senses: the sky, the heavens, and chiefly or royal rank. The overlap is not a metaphor added later — it is how the word works. It closes dozens of Hawaiian names and the meaning is undisputed.
How the name formed
- lani
- Lani
Related forms: Lani · Leilani · Lanie
Pronouncing Lani
LAH-nee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Hawaiian gives both vowels a full value with no reduction.
Nicknames for Lani
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 1979143 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #875reached in 1947
- Change vs 2023
- +36.5%131 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.
Lani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lani in Hawaiian — same name
- Leilani in Hawaiian — related form
- Lanie in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Lanis among us
people named Lani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 12,269 born in 2025 was named Lani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Lani
- #1592
- Lani on the 2025 chart
- #810
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lani went to 131 girls in 2025, but Lany is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 150, which makes it the 810th most-given girls’ name of the year — 782 places above the chart.
- Lani131
- Lany19
About 1 girl in 10,715 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 12,269 for Lani 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 Erline test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Erline climbed just as high around 1927, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Erline's path sketches the road Lani is walking now.
Lani is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lani is headed
Lani should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Lani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The sky-and-royalty double sense is concrete and genuinely elegant.
- It is a living Hawaiian word rather than a coinage.
- Leilani is available as a fuller formal version.
- It is very short and can be swallowed by a long surname.
- Lanie and Laney are close enough to be confused and have different origins.
- In Hawaiian it is used for both sexes.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Lani
Feminine · #1592 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,800 people named Lani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Lani?
- Lani is the most-used spelling in US records — 131 of the 150 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Lany.
- How popular is the name Lani in 2025?
- Lani ranks #1592 among US girl names in 2025, with 131 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lani?
- About 1 in every 12,269 US girls born in 2025 was named Lani — 131 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lani with classmates?
- Lani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aislinn#1592 · Alaiyah#1592 · Journie#1592 · Kaelyn#1592 · Calista#1592 · Lailah#1592 · Ever#1592 · Cienna#1592
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lani and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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