What is Henry in Hawaiian?
Henry is Hanale in Hawaiian, said hah-NAH-leh.
How Henry became Hanale
Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Henry R became L, Y fell away, and a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together. Hawaiian does not run two consonants together, and every syllable ends on a vowel.
Other recorded spellings of Henry
Hawaiian records do not settle on one spelling for every borrowed name. Alongside Hanale, Henry was also written Henelē. 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.
Hanale 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 Hanale
Say it hah-NAH-leh, leaning on NAH, sounding every vowel: a as in “father”, e as in “bet”. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.