Fun Facts About the Name Ohana
- 501 babies named Ohana: U.S. records list 501 babies given the name Ohana from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Ohana Mean?
Ohana is a Hawaiian word meaning "family," specifically the extended family or kin group. It is generally explained as coming from Hawaiian ʻohā, the shoot or sucker that grows from a taro corm, plus the suffix -na; the picture behind the word is of several shoots springing from one root. That taro image is the literal source of the term, while "family" is its established everyday sense in Hawaiian. The word is spelled with an ʻokina (the glottal stop shown as ʻ) at the beginning.
In Hawaiian use the term covers a wider circle than the English word "family" usually does. It includes relatives by blood and by marriage and also relatives brought in through hānai, the Hawaiian practice of customary adoption or fosterage within the family. A person's ʻohana could therefore include people with no direct blood tie.
Ohana is not originally a personal name in Hawaiian; it is a common noun. Its use as a given name is a later development, and the identical spelling also occurs as a surname in unrelated languages, such as Japanese and North African Sephardic Jewish surnames, where the origins are different.
Ohana Name History & Origins
In pre-contact Hawaiian society the ʻohana was the basic social unit: an extended family group that traced descent from a shared ancestor, lived and worked together, and held rights to land within an ahupuaʻa (a traditional land division running from the mountains to the sea). The word ties the group to that land and to the taro grown on it, and Hawaiian-language texts and dictionaries from the nineteenth century onward record it in this sense.
As a personal name, Ohana appears in Hawaii and, more recently, elsewhere in the United States. A major reason the word is now widely recognized outside Hawaii is the 2002 Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch, whose character Lilo explains that "ʻOhana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind - or forgotten." That line is a modern cultural association for the word, not its origin.
The same spelling appears as a surname in other languages, including Japanese surnames read Ohana and a Sephardic Jewish surname found among families from Morocco and other parts of North Africa. Those surnames have their own separate histories and are not derived from the Hawaiian word.
How Popular is the Name Ohana?
Ohana has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2023. Its best rank was #3,076 in 2023.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #3,759 | 40 | 0.0025% |
| 2024 | #3,473 | 45 | 0.0028% |
| 2023 | #3,076 | 54 | 0.0034% |
| 2022 | #3,354 | 48 | 0.0029% |
| 2021 | #3,146 | 52 | 0.0032% |
| 2020 | #3,588 | 42 | 0.0026% |
| 2019 | #3,894 | 38 | 0.0023% |
| 2018 | #4,970 | 27 | 0.0016% |
| 2017 | #4,555 | 31 | 0.0018% |
| 2016 | #4,707 | 30 | 0.0017% |
| 2015 | #8,813 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2014 | #9,997 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2013 | #8,461 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 2012 | #9,568 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2010 | #13,157 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 2009 | #14,825 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2006 | #16,596 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2005 | #14,128 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2004 | #12,443 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2003 | #12,106 | 8 | 0.0004% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Ohana Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You are patient, persevering and strong willed. You are a good student, absorbing knowledge easily and retaining it well. You are either a saint or a sinner. You tend to hold things inside and suffer in silence. You are frank, methodical and believe in law, system and order.
Creative and outgoing, you are always looking for an opportunity to show your abilities, especially before audience. You are very flexible and like to feel appreciated. You are looking for chances to mix with others socially and to communicate your ideas. You like to talk and can easily relate to different cultures and concepts. The biggest challenge for you is uncertainty. Easily getting bored, you can move from one job to another, switch projects and lovers. The high creative force can lead you either to happiness or unhappiness. If you understand your goals, if you can make major decisions in life and follow it directly and straight up without worry and uncertainty, you are able to achieve great heights.
✦ Ohana's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Ohana's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.