Makana
Masculine · “gift”
Makana is given to both — 517 boys and 343 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Makana is Hawaiian for a gift, and it is given as a name to sons and daughters alike, since Hawaiian names are not divided by sex the way English ones are. The word is ordinary in the language, used for a present, a reward and a gift of any kind.
How old is the name Makana?
Makana first appears in US birth records in 1986 — 39 years ago. The typical Makana alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 500 people named Makana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Makana most popular?
Makana peaked in 2016, reaching #3681 nationally. Today it ranks #5045, 1,364 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Makana
Hawaiian naming survived the near-loss of the language and is part of its recovery: names are given as words and phrases, sometimes very long ones, and they carry meaning that everyone who speaks the language hears immediately. Makana is among the most-given of the short ones. It came into wider American use in the last few decades, and families with no Hawaiian connection now use it too, which is a real question for the community the word belongs to.
Meaning
gift; reward
Hawaiian makana, a gift or present. Hawaiian names are usually plain words or phrases, chosen for their sense and often for a circumstance of the birth, and they are not assigned to one sex or the other.
Pronouncing Makana
mah-KAH-nah
Three syllables, all open, with the weight on the second. Hawaiian gives every vowel its full value, which English speakers manage after one try.
Nicknames for Makana
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
- 1986
- Most boys named
- 201629 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3681reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- +11.8%19 in 2025, from 17
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.
Makana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Makana in Hawaiian — same name
Makanas among us
people named Makana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was named Makana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Stark test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Makana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Stark climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Stark's path sketches the road Makana is walking now.
Makana 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
Makana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Makana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a single warm word and needs no explaining to anyone who speaks Hawaiian.
- Three open syllables make it easy for English speakers to say correctly.
- It works for a child of either sex, as Hawaiian names do.
- It belongs to a language and a people with a specific history, and using it from outside that community reads differently to those inside it.
- English speakers may stress the wrong syllable at first.
- Makana and Makena are close in American speech and get written for one another.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Makana
Masculine · #5045 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Makanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Makana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Makana in 2025?
- Makana ranks #5045 among US boy names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Makana?
- About 1 in every 89,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Makana — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Makana with classmates?
- Makana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Makana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Silver#5045 · Daymon#5045 · Thierry#5045 · Mehmet#5045 · Tyrel#5045 · Teague#5045 · Zeyad#5045 · Gardner#5045
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Makana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Makana 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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