Laylani
Feminine
Laylani sits where two much older names meet: Hawaiian Leilani, and Layla. It has the long middle vowel that carries well across a playground — lay-LAH-nee — and it arrived in American records only in the last generation or so, still climbing rather than settling. Almost every Laylani in the country is a child right now.
How old is the name Laylani?
Laylani first appears in US birth records in 2000 — 25 years ago. The typical Laylani is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,200 people named Laylani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Laylani most popular?
Laylani peaked in 2025, reaching #768 nationally. Today it ranks #768, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Leilani to Laylani
The story of Laylani
The two names standing behind Laylani are both well documented. Leilani is Hawaiian, built from lei and lani, and traveled from the islands into mainland American use over the twentieth century. Layla comes from Arabic and was carried into English partly through the twelfth-century Persian retelling of Layla and Majnun, and later through a rock song of the early 1970s. Laylani itself is newer than either: an American spelling that keeps the Layla opening and the Leilani ending, appearing in the records only recently and still on the way up.
Meaningscholars disagree
Two readings compete: 'heavenly flowers' or 'royal child' by way of Hawaiian Leilani, or 'night' by way of Layla with a -lani ending
Laylani has no meaning of its own in any language — it is a recent American form. Read as a respelling of Leilani, it inherits the Hawaiian elements lei (flowers, garland, a beloved child) and lani (sky, heaven, royalty). Read as Layla plus -lani, the first part comes from Arabic layl, 'night', the name carried by the beloved of the classical Layla and Majnun story. Both readings are honest; neither is settled.
How the name formed
- Leilani
- Laylani
Related forms: Leilani · Leylani · Lailani · Lani
Pronouncing Laylani
lay-LAH-nee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Some families say lay-LAY-nee instead; because the spelling is new, expect to state your version once and have it stick.
Nicknames for Laylani
High
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
- 2000
- Most girls named
- 2025353 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #768reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +23.4%353 in 2025, from 286
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.
Laylani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leilani in Hawaiian — related form
- Leylani in English — spelling variant
- Lailani in English — spelling variant
- Lani in Hawaiian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Laylanis among us
people named Laylani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,553 born in 2025 was named Laylani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Laylani
- #768
- Laylani on the 2025 chart
- #444
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Laylani went to 353 girls in 2025, but Lailani, Laylanii and Lailany and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 620, which makes it the 444th most-given girls’ name of the year — 324 places above the chart.
- Laylani353
- Lailani227
- Laylanii16
- Lailany12
- Lailanni6
- Laylanni6
About 1 girl in 2,592 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,553 for Laylani 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 Jaquelin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Laylani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jaquelin climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jaquelin's path sketches the road Laylani is walking now.
Laylani is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Laylani is headed
Laylani 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.
Laylani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Laylani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads aloud correctly for most English speakers on first sight — the letters do what they look like they do.
- Several ready-made short forms, including Lani and Layla, both of which stand alone as names.
- The sound is already familiar through Leilani and Layla, so it is recognizable even where the spelling is not.
- Rare enough that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate, while the sound itself is unremarkable to hear.
- Expect a lifetime of spelling it out. Leilani, Leylani, Lailani and Laylanie all compete for the same sound, and none of them is the default.
- The name belongs to a very recent wave, so it will read as of its moment — closely tied to the Layla and Leilani sounds that rose alongside it.
- It draws on Hawaiian elements without being a Hawaiian name. Some families are glad of the connection; others prefer Leilani itself, or a name with no borrowed thread at all.
- Because nearly everyone carrying it is currently a child, there is no older generation of Laylanis to make the name feel established. That will change on its own.
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What they receive
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Laylani
Feminine · #768 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laylanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,200 people named Laylani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Laylani?
- Laylani is the most-used spelling in US records — 353 of the 620 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Lailani, Laylanii, Lailany, Lailanni and Laylanni.
- How popular is the name Laylani in 2025?
- Laylani ranks #768 among US girl names in 2025, with 353 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Laylani?
- About 1 in every 4,553 US girls born in 2025 was named Laylani — 353 in all.
- Will my child share the name Laylani with classmates?
- Laylani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Laylani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Indy#768 · Freyja#770 · Azari#766 · Dulce#770 · Maci#770 · Christina#770 · Keziah#766 · Elina#764
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Laylani? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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