Variations on a Hawaiian Name

[Mokihana]

The thread in the media forum about the media pronouncing "Honolulu" wrong made me think of something I'd written about at Hawaiistories:

I love my name! It sings to me when I say it or hear it… singing to me of my island home, of ku‘u one hānau. Singing of the cool trade winds, the rainbows in Mānoa Valley where I was born and raised, of the scent of flowers, the sounds of pidgin, the ono grindz, the Hawaiian music. I love that back home everyone knows how to pronounce it!

Not so on the mainland, however. It’s absolutely amazing to me how mainland people can so demolish what looks to me like a pretty straightforward pronunciation. It’s real easy, even if you don’t know Hawaiian, to apply the rules of phonics and sound it out. Apparently, however, phonics has nothing to do with how Hawaiian is pronounced over here. Mokihana. Pretty straightforward, yeah? NOT!

No fooling, these are variations on my Hawaiian name as spoken by mainland people, who, mind you, have my name written out right in front of them:

** Mokahana (far and away the most used one… I’m not even related to Starbucks)
** Mooeykana
** Moochie (kinda like mochi crunch?)
** Lucky (LUCKY?????? How did they get that from M-O-K-I-H-A-N-A???)
** Mahakanika
** Nokiana (sounds like a cell phone)
** Monica (no, I don’t know Bill Clinton)
** Minihana (by the shores of Gitche Gumee?)
** Milkyhana (no, I’m not a candy bar)
** Moheeka (last of the….??)
** Mecha
** Makimaki (not even a humuhumunukunukuapua’a)
** Markahana
** Makenna

One guy, when introduced to me, asked if he could call me:

** Pocahantas

“No”, I replied, “you can’t”. “Well, why not?” he kinda whined.
“Because”, I replied, “first of all, that’s not my name. And secondly, I’m not even Native American!”

The very very worst one came over the fax machine. The wahine never even knew how badly she messed up my name. She addressed the fax to:

**Milky Hauna. :eek: :eek:

I don’t get mad. Really I don’t. I try to take it with lots of aloha and a smile. Gives my friends and I at alohaworld/ohana lanai real good laughs, especially when they think up variations of their own. But when I talk to other locals for the first time, what a relief to know that not only do they know how to spell my name, they can actually pronounce it correctly!

[Menehune Man]

My daughter's middle name is Lehua. She lives in South Australia and is asked all the time "What kind of a name is that?! :rolleyes: Her first name is Jasmine so is a "real" flower child. :D Aloha!

[Menehune Man]

Come to think of it I had a coffee mug once that had "my" hawai'ian name of Kapeli on it. How do they, whoever they is, come up with a translation for english names anyway. It's Jeff by the way. :rolleyes:
In Fiji my nickname was Na Veli which means Menehune, hence my threads name. Moce :D

[Ailina]

The first time I read your name, I thought it's beautiful. You really do have a pretty name.

On mispronunciation...I sympathize. I really do.

Correct: A`ilina (previously, without `okina: "eye-LEE-nuh")

Incorrect:



Ay-LAY-na
Ay-LINE-a
Eileen
Uh-LEE-nie
Ay-LEE-nie
Uh-LAY-na
Uh-LAY-nee
Ill-LINE-a
Ay-eye-LINE-a
Now. For the (Filipino) last name.

Correct: Laranang 1) "Americanized" version: Lair-uh-nayng. 2) Filipino version: Luh-RAH-nahng.

Incorrect:


Lerr-ning
Learning
La-RANG
Lara-NAG
Lar-RAG
La-RAIN-ga
La-RAN-ah (what happened to the rest of it?!)
Lara-nay
Lara-NAG
LaRange (as in French)
La-range-ee (like, Home on the...)
My personal favorite...and the all-time best butchering...

Ah-lay-nee La-grange-ee.

So, sometimes, I don't feel so bad for not being able to get the hang of Cajun French.

[Leo Lakio]

I love my name! It sings to me when I say it or hear it…

Granted, you aren't from Kaua`i, but every time I hear or read "Mokihana," the song "Aloha Kaua`i" begins playing in my mental jukebox. The first lyric is "Aloha mokihana..."

[akrauth]

The thread in the media forum about the media pronouncing "Honolulu" wrong made me think of something I'd written about at Hawaiistories:

I love my name! It sings to me when I say it or hear it… singing to me of my island home, of ku‘u one hānau. Singing of the cool trade winds, the rainbows in Mānoa Valley where I was born and raised, of the scent of flowers, the sounds of pidgin, the ono grindz, the Hawaiian music. I love that back home everyone knows how to pronounce it!

Not so on the mainland, however. It’s absolutely amazing to me how mainland people can so demolish what looks to me like a pretty straightforward pronunciation. It’s real easy, even if you don’t know Hawaiian, to apply the rules of phonics and sound it out. Apparently, however, phonics has nothing to do with how Hawaiian is pronounced over here. Mokihana. Pretty straightforward, yeah? NOT!

No fooling, these are variations on my Hawaiian name as spoken by mainland people, who, mind you, have my name written out right in front of them:

** Mokahana (far and away the most used one… I’m not even related to Starbucks)
** Mooeykana
** Moochie (kinda like mochi crunch?)
** Lucky (LUCKY?????? How did they get that from M-O-K-I-H-A-N-A???)
** Mahakanika
** Nokiana (sounds like a cell phone)
** Monica (no, I don’t know Bill Clinton)
** Minihana (by the shores of Gitche Gumee?)
** Milkyhana (no, I’m not a candy bar)
** Moheeka (last of the….??)
** Mecha
** Makimaki (not even a humuhumunukunukuapua’a)
** Markahana
** Makenna

One guy, when introduced to me, asked if he could call me:

** Pocahantas

“No”, I replied, “you can’t”. “Well, why not?” he kinda whined.
“Because”, I replied, “first of all, that’s not my name. And secondly, I’m not even Native American!”

The very very worst one came over the fax machine. The wahine never even knew how badly she messed up my name. She addressed the fax to:

**Milky Hauna. :eek: :eek:

I don’t get mad. Really I don’t. I try to take it with lots of aloha and a smile. Gives my friends and I at alohaworld/ohana lanai real good laughs, especially when they think up variations of their own. But when I talk to other locals for the first time, what a relief to know that not only do they know how to spell my name, they can actually pronounce it correctly!

Aloha e moh-kee-HAH-nah! Pehea 'oe? Maika'i no au, mahalo. LOL there you go! I live in York, Maine, but I'm totally in love with 'olelo Hawai'i and I know all the hakalama stuff already. I love your name too, especially because it's also a kind of lei.
(sings) Sweet lei mokihana...
There are lots and lots and lots of other mele with your name in them, not just that one, so whenever I hear that word in one of them I'll think of you!

Those were pretty bad, I must say!

One of my friends pronounces Keali'i Reichel's first name like it's a totally different Hawaiian name: Ka'ili (kah-EEH-lee.) I never correct her because she's not a kama'aina and I know who she's talking about. I'm nice that way unless the person is someone really close to me, like my makuahine or my makuakane, and maybe a few hoaaloha too.

A little haole knock-knock joke:
Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Hana.
Hana who?
Hana-lulu.

BTW I found out what it means. "Hono" means bay and "lulu" means protected, so altogether it means "protected bay."

I probably better go now but please feel free to e-mail me some time or send me a private message. I've already sent you a million of them. 'Auhea wale ana 'oe?

A hui hou,
akrauth

[Lei K]

Wow, dis one old thread.

Don't know if I ever said before but I get one great great auntie in my genealogy named Mokihana. It is a beautiful name! :D

But back on the topic of "mainlanders" messing up Hawaiian names, ooooh boy, do I have issues with that. My middle son Keanu, (named after a great great uncle and I know we have a Keanu on HT too) he has by far the most problems. Now, you would think he'd have the least problems considering the popularity of Keanu Reeves, hah, not.

I very clearly say KAY-AH-NU (slowly even) and I still get the following:

Key-ah-now
Key-ah-no
Key-ah-nah
Ko-an-no
Key-now
Kay-now
Kah-now
Key-now-new
Kay-now-new
Kah-now-new
Key-now-no
Ko-new-new
Canoe (!!!!)
Kah-new-new
Kay-nu-koo
Kah-na-nu (nanu nanu, hahaha)
Key-aaaaa-new (Southern people do this one)

The worst one to date?

Keen-yah-yah :confused:

My oldest son Kai gets called "Kyle" or "Kay" all the time. He gets so worked up when it happens because it happens quite often. But he's 7 and has yet to figure out a better way of handling it than to say, in rather annoyed like manner, "MY NAME IS NOT KYLE OR KAY!"

I also get people up here thinking they know what my son's names mean and trying to define it for me and coming up with something completely off. Me, I'll sit there and tell the meanings and reasons behind the names. My husband on the other hand has a really short temper with these things, once again, because it happens so often. Like this one lady who came up to my husband...

Lady: What's your son's name?
My husband: Kai
Lady: Ooooh my daughter's name is Kailey (she says it kay-lee) just like your son is Kai (she says it kay) and is named for the Polynesian (she says it Pol-ar-nee-sand) word for beautiful little girl. ( :confused: )
My husband: Oh wow, it has a completely different meaning to my part Hawaiian wife, go figure. *walks off*

No issues with my third son's name yet but he's only 11 weeks old, give them time.

[Mokihana]

Oi! That's just as bad as what I get!! People ask me how to pronounce my name, I say, "Mokihana", real slow, and I generally get back, "Oh yeah! Just like it's spelled! Mochahana!" :eek:

Go figga.

[Erika Engle]

My name is more common now than it used to be ... and it's still more commonly spelled with a "c" so people misspell my name frequently (even in these threads, when my name is spelled right there for all to see).

Anyway, my 5th grade teacher in Beloit, Wis., took MONTHS to get the "AIR-ih-kuh" pronunciation. She said UR-i-kuh, EUREKA, and all manner of other things until she finally got it. It was a little insulting, but she was one of the "mean" teachers, so I couldn't really raise a fuss.

I can't even imagine how many years my Japanese mother put up with mispronunciation of her name -- Mariko. MAH-ree-koh. No big whoop, right? I think it was in Missouri where this one man just insisted on calling her Marigold. Insensitive boor. (Other than that I'm sure he was a nice man ... ) However, even in Hawaii, local people seem more comfortable calling her Mah-REE-koh. She's used to it, I suppose, but it grates on me.

[akrauth]

Aloha e Erika,

How can people not pronounce your name right? It's not even Hawaiian! Oh well.
My name is more common now than it used to be ... and it's still more commonly spelled with a "c" so people misspell my name frequently (even in these threads, when my name is spelled right there for all to see).

Anyway, my 5th grade teacher in Beloit, Wis., took MONTHS to get the "AIR-ih-kuh" pronunciation. She said UR-i-kuh, EUREKA, and all manner of other things until she finally got it. It was a little insulting, but she was one of the "mean" teachers, so I couldn't really raise a fuss.

I can't even imagine how many years my Japanese mother put up with mispronunciation of her name -- Mariko. MAH-ree-koh. No big whoop, right? I think it was in Missouri where this one man just insisted on calling her Marigold. Insensitive boor. (Other than that I'm sure he was a nice man ... ) However, even in Hawaii, local people seem more comfortable calling her Mah-REE-koh. She's used to it, I suppose, but it grates on me.

[Erika Engle]

Aloha e Erika,
How can people not pronounce your name right? It's not even Hawaiian! Oh well.
I know. Bizarre, yeah?
Maybe back when I was in 5th grade the name was exotic ... I dunno.

[localgrl]

I guess when you are raised with the correct pronounciation it jus rolls of the tongue the right way, but like many others, my sons name is Kekoa, real easy for us to pronounce try to get the people here to say it the right way....forget it! I say really slow... K like the letter, ko and wa....but still dey say Kecola... whea dey get the l from is beyond me :confused:

[Mokihana]

I have one friend who has a Japanese name. Is absolutely nothing like mine. But people here on the mainland call me by her name alla time! And I not Japanese... I'm Portagee! And they call her by my name, too!

They kinda laugh about 2 foreign names, hard to keep them straight. :confused: