Charlotte · English girl’s name

Charlotte in Hawaiian is Kalake

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when C became K, R became L, T became K, and the doubled consonant was written once.

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kah·LAH·keh

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Charlotte in Hawaiian?

Charlotte is Kalake in Hawaiian, said kah-LAH-keh.

How Charlotte became Kalake

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Charlotte C became K, R became L, T became K, and the doubled consonant was written once. Hawaiian never writes a consonant twice, so the pair collapses to one.

Other recorded spellings of Charlotte

Hawaiian records do not settle on one spelling for every borrowed name. Alongside Kalake, Charlotte was also written Halaki. Each is a real Hawaiian writing of the name rather than a variant anyone invented; which one a family used came down to who was doing the writing, and when.

How to say Kalake

Say it kah-LAH-keh, leaning on LAH, sounding every vowel: a as in “father”, e as in “bet”. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.

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 Charlotte in Hawaiian?

Charlotte is Kalake in Hawaiian, pronounced kah-LAH-keh. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Kalake?

kah-LAH-keh, with the stress on LAH.

Why does Kalake look so different from Charlotte?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Charlotte, C became K, R became L, T became K, and the doubled consonant was written once.

Is Kalake a real Hawaiian name?

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

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