Skip to content
Hawaiian Name Finder

Janet · English girl’s name

Janet in Hawaiian is Kaneka

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

Translate another name

Say it

kah·NEH·kah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Janet in Hawaiian?

Janet is Kaneka in Hawaiian, said kah-NEH-kah.

How Janet became Kaneka

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Janet J fell away, T 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.

How to say Kaneka

Say it kah-NEH-kah, leaning on NEH, 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 Janet in Hawaiian?

Janet is Kaneka in Hawaiian, pronounced kah-NEH-kah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Kaneka?

kah-NEH-kah, with the stress on NEH.

Why does Kaneka look so different from Janet?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Janet, J fell away, T became K, and a vowel was added at the end.

Is Kaneka a real Hawaiian name?

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

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