Discover and Shortlist Your Perfect Baby Names!

Palila as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Palila

Add to my Name List

The baby name Palila is a Unisex name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced pah-LEE-lah.

Palila is Hawaiian in Origin.

Gender: Unisex
Syllables: 3.0
Origin: Hawaiian
Pronunciation: pah-LEE-lah

What is the meaning of the name Palila ?

The baby name Palila is a Unisex name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced pah-LEE-lah.

Palila is Hawaiian in Origin.

Palila is a Hawaiian given name from palila, the native honeycreeper of Hawaiʻi (Loxioides bailleui). As a name it conveys “bird,” evoking song, lightness, and ties to the mamane forests of Mauna Kea. It is unisex in Hawaiian practice, though now slightly more common for girls.

The name reflects the tradition of drawing personal names from nature; usage waned during anglicization in the late 19th–20th centuries and revived with the Hawaiian language renaissance. Standard spelling is Palila; some modern writers add diacritics, but it is usually seen without them. Traditional variants are few; common nickname Lila appears in English contexts today.

Palila barely registers. Our whole dataset turns up only 9 recorded uses, across 7 countries.

Palila – Popularity by country

Based on birth registration data from national statistics agencies.

Country Gender Year Rank Born of
CM Girls 0 #560 1 11,671
AR Girls 0 #630 1 8,289
TN 0 #865 1 13,765
BR Girls 0 #992 1 12,708
SA Girls 0 #1,014 1 25,931
CO Girls 0 #1,151 2 16,140
DZ 0 #1,233 2 20,130

Palila is popular in 7 countries — most recent births per country:

AR
BR
CM
CO
DZ

Did we miss something about this name? Let us know!

People also ask about Palila

Palila is a unisex name, given to both boys and girls.
Palila is a 3 syllable name, pronounced pah-LEE-lah.
Palila is a name of Hawaiian origin, traditionally used in Hawaii. It doesn't appear in the major international birth registries we track, but it is an established name within Hawaii and its diaspora communities.
Without doubt. Palila sits so far outside the national birth charts that it's about as rare as names come, putting it at the far rare end of the spectrum.