Mailani is a Hawaiian-style name built on lani, "heaven" or "sky", the same element found in Leilani and Kailani, and is usually read as "heavenly" or "toward heaven". It is a modern coinage rather than a traditional Hawaiian name, and its sound matches the popular -lani names of the 2020s. Mailani has climbed from number 4271 in 2015 to number 2185 in 2025, close to its best rank of 2014 in 2023, with 85 births.