Kelani

Meaning of Kelani

Kelani derives chiefly from Hawaiian, where the definite article ke joins lani, “the heavens” or “royalty,” so the name reads almost like an elevator to the sky—albeit with far fewer engineering challenges. Used for girls in the continental United States since the late 1970s, it has hovered in the lower quarter of the Social Security rankings, fluctuating between roughly 750th and 950th place; analysts would call that “statistically significant persistence,” while parents might simply call it pleasantly uncommon. Beyond Hawaii, Kelani appears as a Yoruba surname and, coincidentally, as the name of Sri Lanka’s Kelani River, but neither association has displaced the prevailing image of a bright, airy island moniker. Pronounced keh-LAH-nee, it offers English speakers a straightforward phonetic path, and its celestial meaning supplies an unobtrusive dash of optimism—useful when the toddler years arrive and heaven feels slightly farther away.