Mailani
Feminine · “heavenly”
Mailani joins mai to the Hawaiian -lani, the sky, and mai is a real Hawaiian word — though the compound is not documented in the language.
How old is the name Mailani?
Mailani first appears in US birth records in 1996 — 29 years ago. The typical Mailani is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Mailani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mailani most popular?
Mailani peaked in 2023, reaching #2002 nationally. Today it ranks #2173, 171 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From lani to Mailani
Our story of Mailani
Our story of Mailani is a story of a genuine ending and an uncertain front. Hawaiian gave American naming -lani through Leilani and Kailani, and families outside the tradition began attaching fronts of their own — Mailani, Maylani, Kylani, Ahlani. Mai exists in Hawaiian but not in this combination, and the front may simply be the English May. The back half means the sky in a living language; the compound appears in American registers in the 2010s.
Meaningscholars disagree
heavenly
The lani element is genuine Hawaiian for 'sky', 'heaven' or 'royal'. Mai exists in Hawaiian as a directional particle but the compound Mailani is not documented as a traditional name. It may also reflect the English May. The ending is inherited; the whole is not.
How the name formed
- lani
- Mailani
Related forms: Leilani · Maylani · Kailani
Pronouncing Mailani
my-LAH-nee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hawaiian gives every vowel a full value with no reduction.
Nicknames for Mailani
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
- 1996
- Most girls named
- 202398 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2002reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- +54.5%85 in 2025, from 55
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.
Mailani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leilani in Hawaiian — related form
- Maylani in English — spelling variant
- Kailani in Hawaiian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Mailanis among us
people named Mailani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 18,909 born in 2025 was named Mailani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mailani
- #2173
- Mailani on the 2025 chart
- #752
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mailani went to 85 girls in 2025, but Maylani, Mailany and Mailanni are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 209, which makes it the 752nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,421 places above the chart.
- Maylani96
- Mailani85
- Mailany23
- Mailanni5
About 1 girl in 7,690 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 18,909 for Mailani 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 Infinity test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mailani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Infinity climbed just as high around 1997, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Infinity's path sketches the road Mailani is walking now.
Mailani 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 Mailani is headed
Mailani looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 24% 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.
Mailani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mailani 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.
- Mai and Lani are two short forms, both real names elsewhere.
- Three syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- The compound is not documented in Hawaiian.
- Maylani and Mailani are both in circulation.
- It is very new in American records.
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What they receive
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Mailani
Feminine · #2173 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mailanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Mailani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mailani?
- Mailani is one of 4 recorded spellings. Maylani is the more common one — 96 births in 2025 against 85 for Mailani.
- How popular is the name Mailani in 2025?
- Mailani ranks #2173 among US girl names in 2025, with 85 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mailani?
- About 1 in every 18,909 US girls born in 2025 was named Mailani — 85 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mailani with classmates?
- Mailani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mailani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jocelynn#2173 · Kynslee#2173 · Rosaline#2173 · Zadie#2173 · Dawn#2173 · Hiba#2173 · Kayce#2173 · Karlie#2173
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mailani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mailani and another name?
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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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