Leilanie
A feminine name with varied origins, possibly meaning "heavenly" or "child of heaven".
Name Census estimates that about 927 living Americans carry the first name Leilanie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leilanie today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leilanie births was 2013 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leilanie. 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.
People living today
927
~ 1 in 369,746 Americans
Peak year
2013
55 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,327
Tracked since 1989
Census
Leilanie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 792 people with the first name Leilanie, which placed it at #14,765 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
#14,765
National first-name rank
People counted
792
792 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
63.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leilanie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leilanie is Hispanic at 63.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.3%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Leilanie 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 Leilanie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino63.5% · 503
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.3% · 169
- Black or African American5.7% · 45
- White5.6% · 44
- Two or more races2.8% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 9
Popularity
Leilanie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leilanie from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 448 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Leilanie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leilanie 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 Leilanie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leilanies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Leilanie, while Illinois, Arizona, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 76 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leilanie
The name Leilanie is a variation of the Hawaiian name Leilani, which means "heavenly lei" or "royal child." It is derived from the Hawaiian words "lei," meaning a flower garland or wreath, and "lani," meaning heaven or royalty.
The name Leilani has been in use in Hawaii for centuries, with its roots tracing back to the ancient Hawaiian culture and traditions. The name was often given to children born into the royal families or to those considered to have a special connection with the divine.
While the name Leilani has been recorded in various historical documents and texts related to Hawaiian culture, the earliest documented use of the variant spelling Leilanie is relatively recent. It is believed to have emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century as a creative spelling variation of the original Hawaiian name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leilanie was Princess Leilanie, a member of the Hawaiian royal family who lived in the late 19th century. She was the daughter of Prince David Kawānanakoa and Princess Abigail Campbell.
Another notable figure with the name Leilanie was Leilanie Maka'iolani Hoag (1921-2001), a Hawaiian hula dancer and teacher who played a significant role in preserving and promoting traditional Hawaiian dance and culture.
In the world of literature, the name Leilanie appeared in the novel "The Rapture of Leilanie" by Myriam S. Villanueva, published in 2002. The book explores the life of a young Filipino-American woman named Leilanie and her quest for self-discovery.
Other historical figures who bore the name Leilanie include Leilanie Pupuhi (1903-1987), a Hawaiian actress and dancer, and Leilanie Dowding (born 1980), a British model and television personality.
While the name Leilanie has its roots in Hawaiian culture, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in the United States, where it is often chosen as a creative variation of the more common name Leilani.
People
Leilanie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leilanie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Leilanie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leilanie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 927 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leilanie 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 369,746 US residents.
Is Leilanie a common name?
We classify Leilanie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 936 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leilanie most popular?
The single biggest year for Leilanie was 2013, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leilanie is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leilanie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 792 people with the name Leilanie, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,765 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 Leilanie 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 Leilanie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leilanie appears almost entirely female. Of the 788 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Leilanie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leilanie is Hispanic at 63.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (21.3%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Leilanie most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Leilanie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.5% (503 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 Leilanie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leilanie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leilanie 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 Leilanie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leilanie 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 Leilanie 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 many people share the name Leilanie?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Leilanie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.