Leylani
Feminine · Hawaiian roots · “heavenly garland”
Leylani is an American respelling of the Hawaiian name Leilani, built from *lei*, the garland of flowers, and *lani*, the sky or the heavens. The Hawaiian original traveled to the mainland through the twentieth century's fascination with the islands — songs, films, hula troupes on tour — and the y-spelling is the newer, mainland chapter of that same journey. Said aloud it is all open vowels, four syllables that run downhill without a single hard consonant to stop them.
How old is the name Leylani?
Leylani first appears in US birth records in 1999 — 26 years ago. The typical Leylani is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,600 people named Leylani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leylani most popular?
Leylani peaked in 2025, reaching #970 nationally. Today it ranks #970, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Leylani appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From lei + lani (Hawaiian) to Leylani
The story of Leylani
Leilani is a genuine Hawaiian name, and a transparent one: any Hawaiian speaker hears *lei* and *lani* in it plainly. It reached wide American attention through the popularity of Hawaiian music and film in the first half of the twentieth century, well before Hawaiʻi became a state, and by the later decades it was fully at home in mainland naming. Leylani is a recent respelling of that name, swapping the Hawaiian *ei* for the *ey* that English readers already know from Leyla and Reyna. It surfaces most strongly in Texas, California and Florida, which is also where Spanish-influenced respellings of English and Hawaiian names have flourished for decades.
Meaning
heavenly garland, or heavenly child
From Hawaiian *lei* (a garland of flowers, and by extension a beloved child) and *lani* (sky, heaven, also royal). Both readings — "heavenly flowers" and "royal/heavenly child" — come from the same two words and are commonly given side by side.
How the name formed
- lei + laniHawaiian
- Leilani
- Leylani
Related forms: Leilani · Leilany · Leylanie · Lani
Pronouncing Leylani
lay-LAH-nee
Four syllables, stress on the second. In Hawaiian each vowel sounds separately — lay-ee-LAH-nee is closer to the island pronunciation, though mainland English generally smooths the first two together.
Nicknames for Leylani
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
- 1999
- Most girls named
- 2025263 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #970reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +19.5%263 in 2025, from 220
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.
Leylani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leilani in Hawaiian — same name
- Leilany in English (US) — spelling variant
- Leylanie in English (US) — spelling variant
- Lani in Hawaiian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Leylanis among us
people named Leylani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 6,111 born in 2025 was named Leylani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Leylani
- #970
- Leylani on the 2025 chart
- #54
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Leylani went to 263 girls in 2025, but Leilani, Leilany and Leilanni are the same name said out loud. Together the 8 spellings went to 4,540, which makes it the 54th most-given girls’ name of the year — 916 places above the chart.
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 354 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 6,111 for Leylani 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 Launa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Leylani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Launa climbed just as high around 1908, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Launa's path sketches the road Leylani is walking now.
Leylani 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 Leylani is headed
Leylani 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.
Leylani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leylani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The sound is already familiar to almost everyone through Leilani, so no one has to be taught how to say it.
- Lani works as a ready-made short form and stands alone as a name if she ever wants something briefer.
- A clear, documented meaning in two everyday Hawaiian words — the kind of answer a child can give when asked.
- Strongly represented in Texas, California and Florida, where the spelling will look unremarkable.
- Leilani is the standard spelling, so expect a lifetime of gentle corrections — forms, teachers and coffee cups will default to the *ei*. Worth deciding now whether you would rather she spell it out or simply live with Leilani appearing on things.
- The *ey* spelling steps away from Hawaiian orthography, where *ei* is the vowel pair that carries the sound. Some people, particularly those with ties to Hawaiʻi, notice and care about that.
- This is a very new form of the name, so she is unlikely to meet another — but it also reads clearly as belonging to the present moment rather than to any earlier generation.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Leylani
Feminine · Hawaiian roots · #970 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leylanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Leylani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Leylani?
- Leylani is one of 4 recorded spellings. Leilani is the more common one — 3,792 births in 2025 against 263 for Leylani.
- How popular is the name Leylani in 2025?
- Leylani ranks #970 among US girl names in 2025, with 263 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Leylani?
- About 1 in every 6,111 US girls born in 2025 was named Leylani — 263 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leylani with classmates?
- Leylani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leylani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elia#970 · Barbara#968 · Zora#968 · Jianna#972 · Ashlyn#972 · Tru#972 · Novalee#975 · Marleigh#975
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leylani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leylani and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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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