Frank · English boy’s name

Frank in Hawaiian is Palani

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when F became P, R became L, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end.

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pah·LAH·nee

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Frank in Hawaiian?

Frank is Palani in Hawaiian, said pah-LAH-nee. The same form covers Francis, because Hawaiian writes both spellings the same way.

How Frank became Palani

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Frank F became P, R became L, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end. Hawaiian does not run two consonants together, and every syllable ends on a vowel. A Hawaiian word cannot finish on a consonant, which is where the last vowel comes from.

Palani 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 Palani

Say it pah-LAH-nee, leaning on LAH, sounding every vowel: a as in “father”, i as “ee”. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.

Where Frank comes from

Frank began as a short form of Francis and later of Franklin. Behind both is the name of the Franks, the Germanic people who gave France its name, and the English word frank, meaning free or open, comes from the same source.

Hawaiian writes it Palani, the form it also uses for Francis. F became P and R became L, and the n-k ending was smoothed into ni.

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 Frank in Hawaiian?

Frank is Palani in Hawaiian, pronounced pah-LAH-nee. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s, and it covers Francis as well.

How do you pronounce Palani?

pah-LAH-nee, with the stress on LAH.

Why does Palani look so different from Frank?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Frank, F became P, R became L, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end.

Is Palani a real Hawaiian name?

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

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