Kahlani
Kahlani was the 875th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 306 babies. Its best year was 2024, when it ranked 835th with 325 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved up 4,501 places. More babies were named Kahlani in the 2020s than in any other decade.
Meaning Origin not documented
Say it kuh-LAH-nee /kəˈlɑni/
- Rank in 2025
- #875 girls, up 248 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 306girls
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a girl’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 2024325 babies
- Total since 1880
- 2,220babies recorded
What does the name Kahlani mean?
Kahlani is a modern American name, recorded from 2003, with no dictionary entry. It looks like a respelling of the Hawaiian name Kalani, from ka 'the' and lani 'sky, heaven; royal chief', or of Kehlani, the name of the singer Kehlani. The spelling with h does not follow Hawaiian spelling, and we found no source documenting how it was formed, so we do not give it a meaning.
How sure is this? Not documented. Probably modeled on Kalani or Kehlani; undocumented.
Related names: Kalani, Kehlani, Khalani.
Sources for this meaning
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (our computation), SSA (public domain)
- Wiktionary, entry 'lani' (Hawaiian section), Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
Nicknames for Kahlani
The usual nicknames for Kahlani are Lani. Some parents skip the long form: for every 100 girls named Kahlani in the last five years, 37 were named Lani, against 10300 twenty years earlier.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Girls, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lani · also for Naylani, Leylani, Leilani | Modern | #1,603 | 522 |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are girls given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Kahlanis go by each one.
Kahlani popularity since 1880
A few boys are given the name too: 7 since 2020.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies (girls) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #875 | 306 |
| 2020 | #1,123 | 215 |
| 2010 | #14,190 | 7 |
| 2000 | — | — |
| 1990 | — | — |
| 1980 | — | — |
| 1970 | — | — |
| 1960 | — | — |
| 1950 | — | — |
| 1940 | — | — |
| 1930 | — | — |
| 1920 | — | — |
| 1910 | — | — |
| 1900 | — | — |
| 1890 | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — |
How popular is Kahlani, counting every spelling?
Kahlani is the most common spelling of a name family that ranked #811 for girls in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #875 for Kahlani on its own. Together these spellings went to 335 girls in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kahlani | 306 | #875 | 1,424 |
| Cahlani | 18 | #6,367 | 72 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Kahlani?
306 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Kahlani (0.08 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Kahlani born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 27 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Kahlani.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Kahlani?
About 2,200 people born in the US named Kahlani are alive today, with a median age of 4; half are between 2 and 7. That makes Kahlani a young name: most people with it are children.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Kahlani by state
How common Kahlani was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Mississippi (4.8×), South Carolina (3.7×), Alabama (3.5×), Louisiana (3.1×), Georgia (2.6×). In 23 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Kahlani: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Kahlani, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Kahlani · Sibling names for Kahlani
Questions about the name Kahlani
How popular is the name Kahlani?
Kahlani was the 875th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 306 babies. Its best year was 2024, when it ranked 835th with 325 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved up 4,501 places. More babies were named Kahlani in the 2020s than in any other decade.
Is Kahlani a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a girl’s name given the name Kahlani in the US.
Where is Kahlani most popular?
In 2021–2025, Kahlani was most common in Mississippi (0.83 per 1,000 girls), followed by South Carolina and Alabama.