Alani
A feminine name of Hawaiian origin meaning "orange tree".
Name Census estimates that about 16,914 living Americans carry the first name Alani. It sits at #178 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Alani today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alani births was 2022 (1,709 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alani. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Alani with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Alani is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 105 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Alani is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 20,265 Americans
Peak year
2022
1,709 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#178
Tracked since 1978
Census
Alani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,687 people with the first name Alani, which placed it at #2,941 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,941
National first-name rank
People counted
7.7K
7,687 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
46.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alani is Hispanic at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (31.7%) and Two or More Races (8.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Alani described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Alani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino46.3% · 3,557
- Black or African American31.7% · 2,440
- Two or more races8.8% · 680
- White8.7% · 671
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 281
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 58
Gender
Gender distribution for Alani
Out of the 17,054 babies given the name Alani since 1880, 99.4% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Alani as a male name
- Ranked #9,903 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (14 births)
Alani as a female name
- Ranked #178 in 2024
- 1,697 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (1,700 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alani leans strongly female. 7,504 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 176 male bearers (2.3%).
Popularity
Alani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alani from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 8,003 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alani by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Alani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alanis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Alani, while Hawaii, Idaho, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 373 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alani
The name Alani has its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture, dating back several centuries. It is derived from the Hawaiian word "lani," which means "heaven" or "sky." The name is often associated with the idea of celestial beauty and divine grace.
In ancient Hawaiian mythology, the word "lani" was used to refer to the heavens and the realm of the gods. It was believed that the highest realm of existence was the "lani," where the most powerful deities resided. The name Alani, therefore, carried a sense of reverence and spiritual significance.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Alani can be found in the Hawaiian oral traditions and chants, which were passed down from generation to generation. These chants often invoked the names of deities and notable figures, and the name Alani was likely used to honor or pay tribute to individuals with a connection to the heavens.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Alani. One of the most famous was Alani Alakawa, a Hawaiian princess and chieftain who lived in the late 18th century. She was known for her beauty, intelligence, and leadership skills, and her name became synonymous with grace and nobility.
Another significant figure was Alani Kealoha, a renowned Hawaiian healer and spiritual leader who lived in the early 20th century. She was revered for her knowledge of traditional Hawaiian healing practices and her ability to connect with the spiritual realm. Her name, Alani, reflected her connection to the divine and her role as a bridge between the physical and celestial realms.
In the realm of literature, the name Alani appeared in the works of Hawaiian author and scholar, David Malo. His book, "Hawaiian Antiquities," published in 1838, contained references to the name Alani and its associations with the heavens and the spiritual world.
More recently, the name Alani has been carried by notable individuals such as Alani Baggett, an American singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1990s, and Alani Vasquez, a Mexican-American actress known for her roles in various television shows and films.
While the name Alani may have evolved and taken on different meanings over time, its roots in Hawaiian culture and its connection to the celestial realm remain a significant part of its history and symbolism.
People
Alani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alani as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Alani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16,914 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alani going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 20,265 US residents.
Is Alani a common name?
We classify Alani as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,054 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alani most popular?
The single biggest year for Alani was 2022, when 1,709 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alani is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,687 people with the name Alani, or 2.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,941 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Alani in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Alani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alani leans strongly female. 7,504 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 176 male bearers (2.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Alani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alani is Hispanic at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (31.7%) and Two or More Races (8.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Alani most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.3% (3,557 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Alani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alani a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Alani in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Alani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alani in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Alani can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Alani?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Alani at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.