Hawaii became a US state in 1959. For the next 40 years, Hawaiian names barely appeared in mainland American naming data. Then something shifted.
Kai is now #76 for boys — and also rising rapidly for girls. Leilani is #260. Malia is #546. Kaia is #173 for girls. Kai appears in the top 200 for both sexes simultaneously, something almost no Hawaiian name has ever done.
The Hawaiian naming wave is real, measurable, and still early.
The data
| Name | Sex | 2004 Rank | 2014 Rank | 2024 Rank | 2024 Babies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kai | Boys | #397 | #155 | #76 | 4,931 |
| Kai | Girls | ~#1,200 | #431 | #199 | 1,718 |
| Kaia | Girls | ~#1,400 | #510 | #173 | 2,076 |
| Leilani | Girls | #549 | #329 | #260 | 1,382 |
| Malia | Girls | #635 | #420 | #546 | 639 |
| Keanu | Boys | #743 | #626 | #881 | 284 |
| Kalani | Girls | ~#1,300 | #798 | #647 | 481 |
| Nalu | Boys | — | — | ~#1,800 | ~65 |
Kai: the breakout Hawaiian name
Kai — Boys #76, 4,931 babies; Girls #199, 1,718 babies in 2024.
Kai means "sea" in Hawaiian. It's also a name in Japanese (meaning "ocean" or "restoration"), Welsh (meaning "keeper of the keys"), and Scandinavian (a pet form of Katarina). The overlapping meanings across cultures gives it unusual cross-cultural appeal.
| Year | Boys Rank | Girls Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | ~#1,500 | — |
| 2000 | #592 | — |
| 2004 | #397 | ~#1,200 |
| 2010 | #245 | #693 |
| 2014 | #155 | #431 |
| 2018 | #110 | #288 |
| 2022 | #79 | #201 |
| 2024 | #76 | #199 |
Kai is still rising on both sides. Its cross-cultural ambiguity is actually an asset — parents who don't identify with Hawaiian culture can still choose it for its Japanese or Scandinavian meanings. The name is short, punchy, modern-sounding, and rare enough to feel distinctive at #76.
The Avatar: The Last Airbender character Kai and various other pop culture appearances have kept the name in view without making it feel explicitly tied to any one show.
Kaia: Kai's feminine form
Kaia — Girls #173, 2,076 babies in 2024.
Kaia is the feminine elaboration of Kai, adding the -a ending that makes girl names feel complete (see names-ending-in-a). It's also an independent Scandinavian/Greek name.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | ~#1,400 | ~100 |
| 2010 | #808 | 284 |
| 2014 | #510 | 586 |
| 2018 | #307 | 1,090 |
| 2022 | #167 | 2,156 |
| 2024 | #173 | 2,076 |
Kaia Gerber (daughter of Cindy Crawford, born 2001) became a supermodel in her own right in the late 2010s, giving the name celebrity cachet at exactly the moment it was ready to climb. Kaia is now more popular than Kai for girls and is approximately as popular as traditional names like Diana or Paige.
Leilani: the flower of heaven
Leilani — Girls #260, 1,382 babies in 2024.
Leilani means "heavenly flower" in Hawaiian — lei (garland, flower) + lani (heaven, sky, royalty). It's one of the most beautiful names in any language and has been climbing steadily on the mainland.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | ~#900 | ~210 |
| 2004 | #549 | 538 |
| 2010 | #377 | 793 |
| 2014 | #329 | 1,001 |
| 2018 | #280 | 1,243 |
| 2022 | #261 | 1,374 |
| 2024 | #260 | 1,382 |
Leilani has been rising continuously for 30 years. It benefits from the general taste for nature-adjacent, meaning-rich names (see names-meaning-light) and from its unique sound — no other common name shares its structure. The five-syllable length may cap how mainstream it can become, but it's found a durable niche in the mid-200s.
Malia: the Hawaiian Mary
Malia — Girls #546, 639 babies in 2024.
Malia is the Hawaiian form of Mary (via the Latin Maria). It's also used in East African naming traditions (Swahili). In America, Malia Obama — the president's elder daughter, born 1998 — gave the name its biggest boost.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | ~#1,000 | ~175 |
| 2004 | #635 | 415 |
| 2009 | #299 | 1,058 |
| 2012 | #269 | 1,217 |
| 2014 | #420 | 755 |
| 2020 | #536 | 635 |
| 2024 | #546 | 639 |
Malia spiked in 2009-2012 when Obama was in office and Malia was a young child frequently in public view. As she grew up and stepped out of the spotlight, the name's boost faded. This is a clean example of the celebrity baby name effect and its natural decay (see celebrity-names).
Keanu: still associated with the actor
Keanu — Boys #881, 284 babies in 2024.
Keanu means "the cool breeze" in Hawaiian. Keanu Reeves has been famous since Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and arguably peaked culturally with The Matrix (1999) and again with John Wick (2014-2023). Despite his sustained fame, Keanu the name never broke into the mainstream.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | #743 | 288 |
| 2000 | #689 | 340 |
| 2004 | #743 | 300 |
| 2014 | #626 | 437 |
| 2024 | #881 | 284 |
Keanu's failure to rise is similar to Thor's — the name is so strongly associated with a single famous person that it reads as a tribute name rather than a genuine name choice. Parents who love Keanu Reeves rarely name their children after him; they consider it too on-the-nose.
Why Hawaiian names now?
Several forces are converging:
1. Cultural visibility. Disney's Moana (2016) brought Hawaiian/Polynesian culture to a global audience. While Moana itself is more Maori/Pacific Islander than specifically Hawaiian, it sparked mainstream interest in the broader island naming tradition.
2. The nature name wave. Hawaiian names are often directly tied to natural phenomena — sea, sky, flowers, wind. That aligns perfectly with the broader rise of nature names.
3. Short, modern sound. Kai, Leia, Malia — these fit perfectly with current preferences for short, vowel-rich, melodic names.
4. Geographic familiarity. Hawaii is a US state. Unlike names from foreign countries, Hawaiian names feel domestically American while still offering the distinctiveness of non-mainland culture.
The Hawaiian wave is still in its early stages. Names like Nalu (wave), Koa (warrior), Hana (flower), and Aloha are beginning to appear in SSA data. Expect the category to keep growing.