Do you know how to give a Hawaiian name?

Aloha e ko'u poe heluhelu,

Do you have a Hawaiian name?

I get a lot of people reaching out to me about Hawaiian names… names for their children, their animals, their tattoos… so I wanted to talk a little more about this. 

When it comes to obtaining a Hawaiian name, first, ask a family member to help you or give the name. Second, if you don’t have someone in the family, ask a close friend. If you don’t have a friend who can help you - you gotta make a friend with someone who speaks the language. If you don’t have a friend who can help you, then you’re gonna have to do what we did. Learn the language yourself and then create a name. 

Most of my eight siblings and I received Hawaiian names when we were born. No one in our family spoke the language, and to be honest I’m not really sure how we got our names. 

Fast forward to when Emily (my wife) and I started our own family… we still didn’t have anyone in our families who spoke Hawaiian. So we learned the language together and by the time our first child was born, we were confident enough to give her a Hawaiian name. We’ve been able to name all three of our children. If you want to hear a little more about our experience, Emily has a blog post about it that you can read here.

Names are significant in Hawaiian culture. It’s not like western names where you just pick a name or a word and because you like the way it sounds. There is much more to Hawaiian names. Here’s a resource for you to learn more about the cultural process of giving and receiving names.

Nana i ke kumu vol. 1

(page 94 - 105)

I would start there, and share it with anyone who wants a Hawaiian name for any reason because there are ways to choose names that are culturally appropriate, and ways that are not. 

In my emails this month, we will go over intentions for wanting a Hawaiian name, some examples of what not to do when choosing a Hawaiian name, the traditional process of giving and receiving names, the structure of Hawaiian names, and ways to perpetuate awareness of giving and receiving Hawaiian names. These are going to be good.

I’ll catch you next week.

Aloha,

Malu

ka-alala.mykajabi.com