Kailani
A Hawaiian name meaning "sea and sky" or "heavenly sea".
Name Census estimates that about 11,508 living Americans carry the first name Kailani. It sits at #275 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kailani today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kailani births was 2022 (1,357 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kailani. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kailani with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kailani is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,784 Americans
Peak year
2022
1,357 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2023 SSA rank
#275
Tracked since 1980
Census
Kailani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,475 people with the first name Kailani, which placed it at #4,245 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,245
National first-name rank
People counted
4.5K
4,475 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
43.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kailani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kailani is Hispanic at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (17.4%) and Black (17.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kailani described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kailani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino43.4% · 1,941
- Two or more races17.4% · 780
- Black or African American17.1% · 767
- White13.1% · 584
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.6% · 342
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 61
Gender
Gender distribution for Kailani
Out of the 11,598 babies given the name Kailani since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Kailani as a male name
- Ranked #9,330 in 2023
- 8 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2022 (8 births)
Kailani as a female name
- Ranked #275 in 2024
- 1,141 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (1,349 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kailani leans strongly female. 4,406 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 63 male bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Kailani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kailani from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 6,101 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kailani by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kailani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kailanis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kailani, while South Dakota, Rhode Island, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 242 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kailani
The name Kailani has its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture. It is a combination of two Hawaiian words, "kai" meaning ocean or sea, and "lani" meaning heaven or sky. Thus, Kailani can be interpreted as "heavenly sea" or "sea from heaven".
In Hawaiian culture, the ocean and the sky hold great significance, representing the essential elements of life and the natural world. The name Kailani reflects the reverence and connection that Hawaiians have with these natural forces.
While the name Kailani may have been in use informally for centuries, its earliest documented appearances date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Kailani Parker, a Hawaiian woman born in 1889 on the island of Oahu.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kailani. One such person was Kailani Kamau, a Hawaiian activist and educator who played a crucial role in preserving and promoting the Hawaiian language and culture in the mid-20th century. She was born in 1920 and dedicated her life to ensuring the survival of Hawaiian traditions.
Another prominent figure with this name was Kailani Kauakahi, a renowned Hawaiian musician and composer who lived from 1932 to 2004. Her compositions, which blended traditional Hawaiian music with contemporary influences, have left a lasting impact on the island's musical landscape.
In the realm of literature, Kailani Koa was a celebrated Hawaiian author and poet who wrote extensively about the challenges faced by indigenous communities in the 20th century. Her poignant works, published between the 1950s and 1980s, shed light on the struggles of preserving cultural identity amidst rapid modernization.
Kailani Kanahele, born in 1968, is a contemporary Hawaiian activist and community leader who has been at the forefront of efforts to protect and reclaim ancestral lands and promote environmental conservation in Hawaii.
While the name Kailani has its roots in Hawaiian culture, it has gained popularity globally, particularly in recent decades, as a beautiful and meaningful name that evokes a connection to the natural world.
People
Kailani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kailani as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kailani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kailani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,508 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kailani going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 29,784 US residents.
Is Kailani a common name?
We classify Kailani as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,598 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kailani most popular?
The single biggest year for Kailani was 2022, when 1,357 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kailani is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kailani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,475 people with the name Kailani, or 1.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,245 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kailani in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kailani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kailani leans strongly female. 4,406 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 63 male bearers (1.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kailani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kailani is Hispanic at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (17.4%) and Black (17.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kailani most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Kailani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.4% (1,941 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kailani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kailani a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Kailani in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Kailani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kailani in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kailani can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Kailani?
Find out how many people share the name Kailani on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.