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First Names Beginning in "V" Translated into Hawaiian!

We feature over 4,000 phonetic Hawaiian name translations. This is a great resource if  if you are looking for a baby/pet name or to translate the names of your Hawaii theme party guests. 

When outsiders began visiting Hawaii adaptations were made to “translate” non-Hawaiian names to “Hawaiian names” phonetically based on the Hawaiian alphabet and word structure. The 5 vowels a,e,i,o and u as well as the 8 consonants h,k,l,m,n,p, w and ' (which is called a glottle stop) make up the entire Hawaiian alphabet. In the Hawaiian language a consonant is always followed by a vowel which also means all Hawaiian words end in a vowel. Please note that the glottal stop is not used in phonetic name translations, just literal Hawaiian words.

Names and words are more easily pronounced when they are broken down into single syllable chunks. Take the name of Hawaii ’s state fish, humuhumunukunukuapua’a, and pronounce it hu-mu-hu-mu-nu-ku-nu-ku-a-pu-a-a.  Phonetically pronounced who-moo-who-moo-new-coo-new-coo-ah-poo-ah-ah. Sometimes the letter W is pronounced the same as V as in the traditional pronunciation of Hawai'i which is phonetically pronounced huh-vi-ee rather than huh-why-ee. 

A traditional Hawaiian name has a specific meaning behind it and is given to a child when they are born by a family elder.  The child is typically named after something that came to a family elder in a dream, by distinguishing characteristics the child displays when born, or characteristics the family would like the child to display. For example the woman’s name Lani means Heavenly.

The Hawaiian translations we provide are phonetic and have no intentional literal meanings. The translations are done based on the sounds the name makes when said and the Hawaiian alphabet and word structure. Because there are only 13 letters in the Hawaiian language there are many names which sound similar and have the same phonetic translation. In order to obtain a literal translation of a name you would need to know the literal meaning the name then translate it to the same exact meaning in Hawaiian. We do not offer this type of service.

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