Nailani
Feminine · “the heavens”
Nailani reads as Hawaiian — nā for the plural article, lani for the heavens — and the -lani ending is one of the most productive elements in the whole language's naming.
How old is the name Nailani?
Nailani first appears in US birth records in 2006 — 19 years ago. The typical Nailani is a kid of about 3 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Nailani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nailani most popular?
Nailani peaked in 2025, reaching #1570 nationally. Today it ranks #1570, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From lani to Nailani
Our story of Nailani
Our story of Nailani is a story of a suffix traveling further than the language it came from. Hawaiian gave American English -lani, the sky, through Leilani and Kailani — and once families outside the tradition recognized the ending, they began attaching new fronts to it. Nailani appears in the American registers in the 2010s. Its back half is genuinely Hawaiian and means what it says; its front half is not documented in the language, and that distinction is worth keeping straight rather than smoothing over.
Meaningscholars disagree
the heavens
The lani element is genuine Hawaiian for 'sky', 'heaven' or 'royal', and closes many real names. The nai front is less certain: Hawaiian nā is the plural article, and naiʻa means dolphin, but neither is documented as the source. The compound appears to be an American formation on a Hawaiian ending.
How the name formed
- lani
- Nailani
Related forms: Kailani · Leilani · Nalani
Pronouncing Nailani
ny-LAH-nee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hawaiian gives every vowel a full value with no reduction.
Nicknames for Nailani
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
- 2006
- Most girls named
- 2025134 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1570reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +143.6%134 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.
Nailani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kailani in Hawaiian — related form
- Leilani in Hawaiian — related form
- Nalani in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Nailanis among us
people named Nailani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,995 born in 2025 was named Nailani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nailani
- #1570
- Nailani on the 2025 chart
- #519
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nailani went to 134 girls in 2025, but Naylani, Nailany and Naylany and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 497, which makes it the 519th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,051 places above the chart.
- Naylani296
- Nailani134
- Nailany51
- Naylany10
- Naylanii6
About 1 girl in 3,234 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 11,995 for Nailani 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 Kaydance test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nailani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kaydance climbed just as high around 2007, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kaydance's path sketches the road Nailani is walking now.
Nailani 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 Nailani is headed
Nailani looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 31% 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.
Nailani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nailani 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.
- Lani is available as a short form that is a complete Hawaiian name.
- Three syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- The front element is not documented in Hawaiian.
- Nalani is a genuine Hawaiian name and is close enough to be confused.
- It is very new in American records.
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What they receive
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Nailani
Feminine · #1570 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nailanis 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 Nailani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nailani?
- Nailani is one of 5 recorded spellings. Naylani is the more common one — 296 births in 2025 against 134 for Nailani.
- How popular is the name Nailani in 2025?
- Nailani ranks #1570 among US girl names in 2025, with 134 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nailani?
- About 1 in every 11,995 US girls born in 2025 was named Nailani — 134 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nailani with classmates?
- Nailani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nailani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ester#1570 · Emberlee#1570 · Britney#1570 · Ziva#1570 · Angeline#1570 · Yitty#1570 · Kamilla#1570 · Vaeda#1570
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nailani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nailani and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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