Nylani
Feminine · “heavenly”
Nylani joins a Ny- front to the Hawaiian -lani, the sky — a genuine ending on a modern American front.
How old is the name Nylani?
Nylani first appears in US birth records in 2007 — 18 years ago. The typical Nylani is a kid of about 3 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Nylani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nylani most popular?
Nylani peaked in 2025, reaching #2064 nationally. Today it ranks #2064, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From lani to Nylani
Our story of Nylani
Our story of Nylani is a story of an ending that outgrew its language. Leilani and Kailani made -lani familiar to American ears, and by the 2010s families were attaching fronts of their own choosing — Nylani, Maylani, Kylani, Ahlani. Ny- comes from nothing older than the sound of Nyla and Nia. The back half means the sky in a living language and always has; the front is American and a decade old, and both halves deserve to be named for what they are.
Meaningscholars disagree
heavenly
The lani element is genuine Hawaiian for 'sky', 'heaven' or 'royal'. The Ny- front is a modern American sound and is not a Hawaiian element. The compound is not documented in the language. Half the name is inherited and half is new, which is worth stating.
How the name formed
- lani
- Nylani
Related forms: Leilani · Nilani · Kalani
Pronouncing Nylani
ny-LAH-nee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hawaiian gives every vowel a full value with no reduction.
Nicknames for Nylani
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
- 2007
- Most girls named
- 202591 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2064reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +8.3%91 in 2025, from 84
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.
Nylani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Leilani in Hawaiian — related form
- Nilani in English — spelling variant
- Kalani in Hawaiian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Georgia, New York.
Nylanis among us
people named Nylani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 17,662 born in 2025 was named Nylani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nylani
- #2064
- Nylani on the 2025 chart
- #844
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nylani went to 91 girls in 2025, but Nilani is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 116, which makes it the 844th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,220 places above the chart.
- Nylani91
- Nilani25
About 1 girl in 13,856 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 17,662 for Nylani 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 Trenna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nylani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Trenna climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Trenna's path sketches the road Nylani is walking now.
Nylani 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 Nylani is headed
Nylani looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 44% 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.
Nylani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nylani 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 real Hawaiian name.
- Three syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- It is not a traditional Hawaiian name and the front is not from that language.
- Half a dozen names of this shape are in circulation.
- It is very new in American records.
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What they receive
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Nylani
Feminine · #2064 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nylanis 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 Nylani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nylani?
- Nylani is the most-used spelling in US records — 91 of the 116 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Nilani.
- How popular is the name Nylani in 2025?
- Nylani ranks #2064 among US girl names in 2025, with 91 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nylani?
- About 1 in every 17,662 US girls born in 2025 was named Nylani — 91 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nylani with classmates?
- Nylani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nylani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Annabel#2064 · Bobbie#2064 · Edie#2064 · Abilene#2064 · Ryla#2064 · Annaliese#2064 · Devora#2064 · Fatimah#2064
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nylani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nylani and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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