Kehlani, a variant of Kailani and Kaylani, is derived from the Hawaiian words kai, meaning "sea," and lani, meaning "sky" or "heaven." It first appeared in the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 for girl names in 2016, the same year Kaylani made its debut and three years after Kailani first entered the list. Of the three, Kehlani has seen the most growth and is the only one to crack the top-200, which it has done each year since 2020. The name was widely popularized by singer Kehlani, who released their debut album in 2014.
