Iwalani
Hawaiian name meaning "heavenly splendor" or "celestial adornment".
Name Census estimates that about 98 living Americans carry the first name Iwalani. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Iwalani today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Iwalani births was 1975 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Iwalani. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Iwalani. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
98
~ 1 in 3,497,493 Americans
Peak year
1975
11 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2019 SSA rank
#16,493
Tracked since 1961
Census
Iwalani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 221 people with the first name Iwalani, which placed it at #36,071 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
#36,071
National first-name rank
People counted
221
221 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Two or more races
39.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Iwalani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iwalani is Two or More Races at 39.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.9%) and Hispanic (14.0%). 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 Iwalani 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 Iwalani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Two or more races39.4% · 87
- Asian and Pacific Islander33.9% · 75
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 31
- White10.4% · 23
- Black or African American1.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Iwalani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Iwalani from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 31 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Iwalani remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Iwalani 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 Iwalani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Iwalanis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Iwalani
The name Iwalani originates from the Hawaiian language and culture. It is a compound word combining the elements "iwa" meaning "bird" and "lani" meaning "heaven" or "sky." Thus, the name Iwalani can be interpreted as "heavenly bird" or "bird of heaven."
The Hawaiian language and culture have a rich history dating back to the ancient Polynesian settlers who first colonized the Hawaiian Islands around the 4th century AD. Names like Iwalani reflect the deep connection these indigenous people had with nature and the spiritual world.
While the name Iwalani is not found in any ancient Hawaiian texts or religious scriptures, it is believed to be an authentic Hawaiian name that has been in use for centuries. The earliest recorded examples of the name are difficult to pinpoint due to the oral tradition of the Hawaiian culture, but it is likely that Iwalani has been used as a given name since the pre-colonial era.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Iwalani was Princess Iwalani Kaua'i, a member of the Hawaiian royal family who lived in the early 19th century. She was the daughter of King Kaumuali'i of Kaua'i and played a role in the transition of power as the Hawaiian Islands were unified under the Kingdom of Hawai'i.
Another notable Iwalani was Iwalani Naole, a Hawaiian historian, and educator born in 1897. She dedicated her life to preserving and promoting Hawaiian culture, language, and traditions through her work as a teacher and author.
In the 20th century, Iwalani Cook was a renowned Hawaiian hula dancer and choreographer. Born in 1930, she helped revive and popularize traditional Hawaiian hula and music both in Hawaii and internationally.
Iwalani Tsuda was a Japanese-Hawaiian artist and educator born in 1949. She is best known for her intricate quilt designs that incorporate traditional Hawaiian patterns and motifs.
Iwalani Kahakai was a Hawaiian activist and community leader born in 1952. She played a significant role in protecting and preserving native Hawaiian land rights and cultural practices, particularly in the Wai'anae region of O'ahu.
People
Iwalani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Iwalani as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Iwalani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Iwalani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 98 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Iwalani 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 3,497,493 US residents.
Is Iwalani a common name?
We classify Iwalani as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 106 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Iwalani most popular?
The single biggest year for Iwalani was 1975, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Iwalani is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Iwalani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 221 people with the name Iwalani, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,071 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 Iwalani 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 Iwalani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Iwalani leans strongly female. 216 people counted with this name were female (96.9%), compared with 7 male bearers (3.1%). 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 Iwalani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iwalani is Two or More Races at 39.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.9%) and Hispanic (14.0%). 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 Iwalani most often in the Census?
Two or More Races is the largest reported group for people named Iwalani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.4% (87 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 Iwalani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Iwalani a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Iwalani 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 Iwalani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Iwalani 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 Iwalani 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 many Americans are named Iwalani?
Want to know how many people have the name Iwalani? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.