Alex · English boy’s name

Alex in Hawaiian is ʻAlika

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

Say it

ah·LEE·kah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Alex in Hawaiian?

Alex is ʻAlika in Hawaiian, said ah-LEE-kah. The same form covers Alec, because Hawaiian writes both spellings the same way.

How Alex became ʻAlika

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Alex X 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.

ʻAlika 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 ʻAlika

Say it ah-LEE-kah, 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.

Alex and Alexander

Alex is the most common short form of Alexander and, for women, of Alexandra. The full name comes from the Greek for defending men. Alex itself became a name in its own right in the twentieth century.

The x is really two sounds, k and s, and Hawaiian has no s. ʻAlika keeps the k, drops the s, and adds a final 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 Alex in Hawaiian?

Alex is ʻAlika in Hawaiian, pronounced ah-LEE-kah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s, and it covers Alec as well.

How do you pronounce ʻAlika?

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

Why does ʻAlika look so different from Alex?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Alex, X became K, and a vowel was added at the end.

Is ʻAlika a real Hawaiian name?

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

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