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[Opinions] Why is Milani so popular in U.S.?
Hi !!!I've just read that Milani was #287 in 2020 with +73.Is this a variant of Melanie right?I read that It could be linked with Milano (Milan).What???Not Milano like the city
Not Milana that could be feminine
But... Milani? How it would be possible?Why with the final -i?
It is a surname.I personally went to school titled after a person whose surname was Milani.And I went to school with a boy with this surname (not related at all with the school namesake).I was born in Milano so Milani used as first name is particularly strange to me (and for any Italian I suppose).Personal Name Lists https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/125456

This message was edited 12/24/2021, 6:14 AM

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It is the name of a cosmetic company here so it sounds familiar.The -lani suffix seems trendy right now.
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This is not from the surname or directly from Italy, but it is related to the Italian city, because it's from the cosmetics brand name, which was chosen by its American founders because of the city's reputation as a leading fashion headquarters:https://blog.mapleholistics.com/blog/milani-cosmetics-review/Once this became the name of a well-known cosmetics brand, its similarity in sound to newly-popular Hawaiian-influenced names like Kehlani and Leilani led parents to think of it as a great "different but not too different" sounding name for a baby girl. Other names derived from cosmetic brand names such as Chanel, Toccara, and L'oreal have become feminine first names previously for similar reasons.
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Sounds Hawaiian but I don't think it's what you'd call popular. I've never heard of it until now.
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As other people have said, it's similar to other popular names...Imani
Amani
Alani
Leilani
Kehlani
MilaI think part of the appeal is that it sounds ethnically diverse/ambiguous to an American ear, like its origin is obscure enough here that it'd probably sound equally as likely to be related to Imani, Leilani, or Mila.

This message was edited 12/24/2021, 5:31 PM

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I doubt people in the US are thinking of anything specifically Italian when they use Milani. I think it's a variant of Meilani (https://www.behindthename.com/name/meilani/submitted), probably influenced by the use of the city name as a name, and maybe the personal name Milan. There are many -lani names on the chart that are Hawaiian or variants of Hawaiian names. The sound pattern is like a blend of Armani and Leilani and Mila, so it's just fashionable. I doubt there's much association with Melanie at all.

This message was edited 12/24/2021, 12:33 PM

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I doubt many if any of the parents now using Milani are thinking of Milani as a surname, and probably not many are considering it a variation of Melanie.
It has a Hawaiian look and sound to it; for all I know maybe it actually is a word or name in Hawaiian and somehow that isn't mentioned on the BTN database.
Other Hawaiian or Hawaiian-sounding names are also popular: Leilani, Kehlani, Alani, and other ani-ending names like Imani and Armani. Milani fits right in with them.
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I think people probably just like the sound. -lani names like Alani and Kehlani are pretty popular at the moment, as are Mi- names like Mila and Mia.
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