Lani
Lani was given to 131 girls in 2025, #1,603 among girls’ names; 7,556 Americans have been recorded with it since 1917 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,800 Americans named Lani and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 20 and 59.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lani by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lani mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lani is “a female given name from Hawaiian.”
Borrowed from Hawaiian Lani.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lani?
#1,603 among girls’ names, 2025
Lani rose from #2,673 in 2015 to #1,603 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 37.5 to 81.5 per million.
143 babies in 1979, the peak
Lani peaked in 1979, when 143 girls were given it, #999 among girls’ names. The 131 births of 2025 are 92% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 131 | #1,603 | 81.5 |
| 2024 | 105 | #1,905 | 64.8 |
| 2023 | 96 | #2,042 | 59.8 |
| 2022 | 98 | #1,999 | 59.8 |
| 2021 | 92 | #2,082 | 56.1 |
| 2020 | 82 | #2,210 | 50.7 |
| 2019 | 81 | #2,262 | 48.3 |
| 2018 | 73 | #2,451 | 42.9 |
| 2017 | 78 | #2,349 | 45.2 |
| 2016 | 80 | #2,356 | 45.1 |
Every recorded year (91)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 67 | #2,673 | 37.5 |
| 2014 | 72 | #2,505 | 40.3 |
| 2013 | 74 | #2,451 | 42.2 |
| 2012 | 71 | #2,554 | 40.3 |
| 2011 | 76 | #2,428 | 43.2 |
| 2010 | 90 | #2,180 | 50.6 |
| 2009 | 98 | #2,085 | 53.3 |
| 2008 | 95 | #2,131 | 50.2 |
| 2007 | 120 | #1,790 | 62.4 |
| 2006 | 127 | #1,668 | 66.8 |
| 2005 | 142 | #1,485 | 76.8 |
| 2004 | 132 | #1,523 | 71.9 |
| 2003 | 118 | #1,635 | 64.6 |
| 2002 | 130 | #1,473 | 72.3 |
| 2001 | 96 | #1,841 | 53.3 |
| 2000 | 86 | #1,955 | 47.4 |
| 1999 | 73 | #2,105 | 41.2 |
| 1998 | 66 | #2,173 | 37.4 |
| 1997 | 43 | #2,849 | 24.7 |
| 1996 | 45 | #2,734 | 25.7 |
| 1995 | 67 | #2,034 | 38.1 |
| 1994 | 62 | #2,169 | 34.7 |
| 1993 | 82 | #1,784 | 45.3 |
| 1992 | 89 | #1,691 | 48.3 |
| 1991 | 75 | #1,879 | 40.0 |
| 1990 | 89 | #1,656 | 46.9 |
| 1989 | 72 | #1,839 | 39.1 |
| 1988 | 65 | #1,896 | 36.5 |
| 1987 | 64 | #1,823 | 36.8 |
| 1986 | 65 | #1,777 | 37.9 |
| 1985 | 79 | #1,543 | 45.9 |
| 1984 | 65 | #1,689 | 38.6 |
| 1983 | 78 | #1,479 | 46.7 |
| 1982 | 95 | #1,321 | 56.1 |
| 1981 | 113 | #1,176 | 67.7 |
| 1980 | 142 | #1,020 | 85.5 |
| 1979 | 143 | #999 | 89.1 |
| 1978 | 98 | #1,260 | 64.0 |
| 1977 | 68 | #1,588 | 44.4 |
| 1976 | 79 | #1,364 | 53.9 |
| 1975 | 76 | #1,391 | 52.1 |
| 1974 | 76 | #1,366 | 51.8 |
| 1973 | 64 | #1,491 | 43.9 |
| 1972 | 78 | #1,308 | 51.3 |
| 1971 | 96 | #1,191 | 57.7 |
| 1970 | 133 | #953 | 76.1 |
| 1969 | 96 | #1,133 | 56.9 |
| 1968 | 95 | #1,095 | 57.9 |
| 1967 | 102 | #1,022 | 61.8 |
| 1966 | 84 | #1,164 | 49.6 |
| 1965 | 57 | #1,471 | 32.3 |
| 1964 | 85 | #1,200 | 44.9 |
| 1963 | 75 | #1,272 | 38.9 |
| 1962 | 88 | #1,172 | 44.7 |
| 1961 | 100 | #1,097 | 49.5 |
| 1960 | 105 | #1,049 | 51.9 |
| 1959 | 97 | #1,084 | 47.9 |
| 1958 | 100 | #1,047 | 49.7 |
| 1957 | 93 | #1,087 | 45.5 |
| 1956 | 106 | #993 | 52.8 |
| 1955 | 80 | #1,116 | 40.9 |
| 1954 | 109 | #923 | 56.1 |
| 1953 | 86 | #1,044 | 45.7 |
| 1952 | 67 | #1,165 | 36.1 |
| 1951 | 80 | #1,040 | 44.4 |
| 1950 | 76 | #1,057 | 44.4 |
| 1949 | 67 | #1,106 | 39.2 |
| 1948 | 74 | #1,019 | 43.6 |
| 1947 | 101 | #876 | 57.0 |
| 1946 | 73 | #981 | 46.5 |
| 1945 | 67 | #930 | 51.3 |
| 1944 | 59 | #1,023 | 44.5 |
| 1943 | 36 | #1,382 | 25.8 |
| 1942 | 39 | #1,290 | 28.9 |
| 1941 | 43 | #1,143 | 35.6 |
| 1940 | 37 | #1,209 | 32.4 |
| 1939 | 15 | #2,170 | 13.7 |
| 1938 | 16 | #2,066 | 14.5 |
| 1924 | 5 | #5,483 | 4.0 |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,375 | 4.2 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,955 | 4.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Lani a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 7,556 Americans recorded as Lani, 98% are girls and 2% boys. In 2025 it went to 131 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Lani: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lani, and how old are they?
6,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 7,556 Americans ever recorded as Lani. The median Lani alive today is 40 years old; half are between 20 and 59.
The 2020 Census counted 7,463 people named Lani (7,206 women and girls, 257 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,426 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 164 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,350 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,400 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,190 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,560 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,130 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Lani born?
The states with the most babies named Lani are California, Hawaii and Texas, with 69% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Hawaii is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,556 | #1,170 | 1.9× |
| Hawaii | 437 | not ranked | 14.5× |
| Texas | 388 | #1,293 | 0.6× |
| Florida | 212 | #1,212 | 0.7× |
| New York | 182 | #2,263 | 0.3× |
| Louisiana | 118 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 83 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Ohio | 71 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Washington | 62 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 50 | #1,683 | 0.2× |
Where Lani is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lani is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1917 it was given 14.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Lani with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 101,042 babies since 1880, Lani is the third most given (7.5% of them). In 2025 it was given to 131 of their 1,760 babies (7.4%), the fourth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Lani
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Lani and names like it
- Compare Lani and LanaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sLani peaked in 1979.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lani since 1910.
- Hawaiian namesWiktionary’s origin for Lani: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1979The year the most babies were named Lani.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Lani alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with LMost given first.