Gender: Masculine
Origin: Hawaiian
Meaning: “cool breeze; the coolness”
(kay-AH-noo)
The name is composed of the Hawaiian words ke meaning (the) and anu (cool).
The name should be pronounced (kay-AH-noo) vs (KEE-ah-NOO). The name first caught the world’s attention through actor, Keanu Reeves (b. 1964).
Currently, Keanu is the 325th most popular male name in Germany, (2011).
If ever a name was deserved! I wonder if Keanu’s parents envisaged he’d become a Hollywood film star?
I don’t know. His father was borne and bred in Hawaii and had some Polynesian ancestry himself. It is common for people from or in Hawaii to use Hawaiian names, even if they don’t necessarily have any native ancestry. Keanu was actually born in Lebanon.