What does Leilani mean in Hawaiian?
Leilani is a Hawaiian girl name that means heavenly lei, royal child. The name comes from lei (garland) + lani (heaven, sky, royal). It is pronounced lay-LAH-nee, with 3 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Leilani belongs with other Hawaiian names about flower, heaven and royalty.
Where you'll hear Leilani
Leilani is the Hawaiian name that has travelled furthest. It has been among the more commonly given girls' names on the United States mainland for the past decade, well outside Hawaiʻi, and for many families it is the first Hawaiian word they learn.
That reach cuts both ways. It is an ordinary, well-loved name in Hawaiʻi and carries no restriction — but it is common enough now that a child named Leilani on the mainland will rarely be the only one.
The words inside Leilani
lei means garland, wreath and appears in 18 Hawaiian names, among them Kalei, Leialoha, Hanalei, Hiʻilei.
lani means sky, heaven and appears in 53 Hawaiian names, among them Kailani, Kalani, Lani, Nalani.
How to pronounce Leilani
Say every vowel. The vowels in Leilani are e as in “bet”, i as “ee”, a as in “father”. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Leilani a boy or girl name?
Leilani is listed here as a girl's name. Of the 49,237 U.S. babies given it, 100% were girls and 0% boys.
How often Leilani is given in the U.S.
Social Security records show 49,237 U.S. babies named Leilani from 1917 to 2023 (49,212 girls, 25 boys). It appears in 103 of those 107 years. Its peak came in 2022, with 3,862, and 26,556 were born from 2014 to 2023. In Hawaiʻi itself, 1,910 babies born in the state were named Leilani from 1919 to 2021, with a peak of 41 in 1970. 170 were born there from 2012 to 2021.
How well recorded is Leilani?
Leilani has its own entry among Wiktionary’s documented Hawaiian given names.