Khalani is a modern American spelling of the Hawaiian Kalani, which is made of ka, "the", and lani and means "the heavens" or "the sky", a word that also carries the sense of royalty in Hawaiian. The kh spelling echoes the singer Kehlani, who drove the whole family of names in the late 2010s. Khalani rocketed from number 3509 in 2015 into the top 1000 in 2020, peaked at number 862 in 2021 and ranks 904th in 2025.