What does Kawailani mean in Hawaiian?
Kawailani is a Hawaiian unisex name that means the heavenly water. The name comes from ka (the) + wai (water) + lani (heaven). It is pronounced kah-wye-LAH-nee, with 4 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Kawailani belongs with other Hawaiian names about water and heaven.
Heavenly water
Kawailani is ka (the), wai (fresh water) and lani (heaven). Wai is fresh water from rain, springs and streams, as opposed to kai, the sea, and it was so central to life that waiwai, water doubled, is the Hawaiian word for wealth.
So heavenly water is rain, the source of all fresh water, and the name carries a sense of blessing and plenty. It is used for girls and boys.
The words inside Kawailani
wai means fresh water and appears in 9 Hawaiian names, among them Wailani, Kawai, Waiola, Kawaiola.
lani means sky, heaven and appears in 53 Hawaiian names, among them Kailani, Kalani, Leilani, Lani.
How to pronounce Kawailani
Say every vowel. The vowels in Kawailani are a as in “father”, i as “ee”. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Kawailani a boy or girl name?
Kawailani is listed here as unisex. Of the 42 U.S. babies given it, 100% were girls and 0% boys.
How often Kawailani is given in the U.S.
Social Security records show 42 U.S. babies named Kawailani from 2002 to 2023, all girls. It appears in 7 of those 22 years. Its peak came in 2022, with 8, and 25 were born from 2014 to 2023. In the Hawaiʻi records it never reaches five births of one sex in a year, the level at which a name is listed.
How well recorded is Kawailani?
Kawailani has its own entry among Wiktionary’s documented Hawaiian given names.