Luana
Feminine · “enjoyment”
Luana was coined for a 1932 film about the South Seas, and it happens to mean enjoyment in Hawaiian — a coincidence the studio may not have intended.
How old is the name Luana?
Luana first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Luana alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 3,900 people named Luana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Luana most popular?
Luana peaked in 1947, reaching #650 nationally. Today it ranks #1818, 1,168 places below that high. See the whole 1947 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From luana to Luana
The story of Luana
Bird of Paradise, released in 1932 and set in the South Pacific, gave its heroine the name Luana, and the American registers show it appearing from that year. It is separately an established Italian and Brazilian name. Both routes brought it into wide use, and it is in current American use.
Meaningscholars disagree
enjoyment, contentment
The Hawaiian luana means 'to be at leisure', 'to enjoy'. The name reached English through the 1932 film Bird of Paradise, whose heroine is Luana. Whether the writers took the Hawaiian word or built the name from Lu and Ana is not documented. A separate Italian Luana exists.
How the name formed
- luana
- Luana
Related forms: Luana · Luana · Luana
Pronouncing Luana
loo-AH-nah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hawaiian gives every vowel a full value with no reduction.
Nicknames for Luana
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
- 1911
- Most girls named
- 1947164 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #650reached in 1947
- Change vs 2023
- −1.8%110 in 2025, from 112
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.
Luana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Luana in Hawaiian — same name
- Luana in Italian — same name
- Luana in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Luanas among us
people named Luana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 14,612 born in 2025 was named Luana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Luana
- #1818
- Luana on the 2025 chart
- #834
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Luana went to 110 girls in 2025, but Luanna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 126, which makes it the 834th most-given girls’ name of the year — 984 places above the chart.
- Luana110
- Luanna16
About 1 girl in 12,756 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 14,612 for Luana 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 Neoma test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Luana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Neoma climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Neoma's path sketches the road Luana is walking now.
Luana 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 Luana is headed
Luana 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.
Luana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Luana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Hawaiian enjoyment meaning is concrete and pleasant.
- Lu and Ana are two short forms, both names in their own right.
- It is established in Italian and Brazilian naming as well.
- Whether the film's writers meant the Hawaiian word is not documented.
- Luanne and Liana are close enough to cause confusion.
- It is dated to the 1930s in its first American appearance.
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What they receive
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Luana
Feminine · #1818 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Luanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Luana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Luana?
- Luana is the most-used spelling in US records — 110 of the 126 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Luanna.
- How popular is the name Luana in 2025?
- Luana ranks #1818 among US girl names in 2025, with 110 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Luana?
- About 1 in every 14,612 US girls born in 2025 was named Luana — 110 in all.
- Will my child share the name Luana with classmates?
- Luana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Luana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lotus#1818 · Kailyn#1818 · Winsley#1818 · Jaisley#1818 · Adah#1818 · Belinda#1818 · Nailah#1818 · Story#1818
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Luana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Luana and another name?
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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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