Abigail · English girl’s name

Abigail in Hawaiian is ʻApikalia

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when B became P, G became K, and a vowel was added at the end.

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ah·pee·kah·LEE·ah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Abigail in Hawaiian?

Abigail is ʻApikalia in Hawaiian, said ah-pee-kah-LEE-ah.

How Abigail became ʻApikalia

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Abigail B became P, G became K, and a vowel was added at the end. A Hawaiian word cannot finish on a consonant, which is where the last vowel comes from. The ʻokina at the front is a consonant in Hawaiian, the catch in the voice before the first vowel.

ʻApikalia has a page of its own as a Hawaiian given name, with its popularity and the names it is usually paired with.

How to say ʻApikalia

Say it ah-pee-kah-LEE-ah, leaning on LEE, sounding every vowel: a as in “father”, i as “ee”. The ʻokina (ʻ) is a catch in the voice, the break in the middle of “uh-oh”. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.

Where Abigail comes from

Abigail is Hebrew, usually translated as my father's joy. In the Books of Samuel she is the wife of David known for her good sense. Puritans made it common in England and New England in the 1600s.

In Hawaiian it is ʻApikalia. B became P, G became K, a vowel was placed between the G and L, and the name closes with a.

Sources the Pukui and Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary, Place Names of Hawaii, Nānā i ke Kumu, wehewehe.org, Wiktionary's Hawaiian given names and U.S. Social Security baby-name records. How this site is compiled · Send a correction

Questions people ask

What is Abigail in Hawaiian?

Abigail is ʻApikalia in Hawaiian, pronounced ah-pee-kah-LEE-ah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce ʻApikalia?

ah-pee-kah-LEE-ah, with the stress on LEE.

Why does ʻApikalia look so different from Abigail?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Abigail, B became P, G became K, and a vowel was added at the end.

Is ʻApikalia a real Hawaiian name?

Yes, as a borrowed name. Hawaiian families have used ʻApikalia since the 1800s, but it is Abigail respelled, not a name built from Hawaiian words.

All 164 English names in Hawaiian · Hawaiian girl's names