What does Piʻilani mean in Hawaiian?
Piʻilani is a Hawaiian boy name that means ascent to heaven, a 16th-century king of Maui. The name comes from piʻi (to climb) + lani (heaven). It is pronounced pee-ee-LAH-nee, with 4 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Piʻilani belongs with other Hawaiian names about royalty and heaven.
The words inside Piʻilani
piʻi means to climb, to rise.
lani means sky, heaven and appears in 53 Hawaiian names, among them Kailani, Kalani, Leilani, Lani.
How to pronounce Piʻilani
Say every vowel. The vowels in Piʻilani are i as “ee”, a as in “father”. The ʻokina (ʻ) in Piʻilani is a short pause, like the break in “uh-oh”. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Piʻilani a boy or girl name?
Piʻilani is used mainly as a boy's name, though Hawaiian itself has no grammatical gender.
How often Piʻilani is given in the U.S.
Social Security records show 5 U.S. babies named Piʻilani from 1999 to 2023, all girls, counted as Piilani because the records drop the ʻokina and kahakō. It appears in 1 of those 25 years. No year since 1999 has five or more babies of either sex given it. In Hawaiʻi itself, 5 babies born in the state were named Piʻilani from 1999 to 2021, with a peak of 5 in 1999. No year after 1999 reached five births of one sex there. Although it is listed here as a boy's name, more girls than boys have been given it in the U.S.
How well recorded is Piʻilani?
Piʻilani has its own entry among Wiktionary’s documented Hawaiian given names.