Julia · English girl’s name

Julia in Hawaiian is Iulia

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when J became I.

Say it

ew·LEE·ah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Julia in Hawaiian?

Julia is Iulia in Hawaiian, said ew-LEE-ah. This is a recorded form rather than an invented one: it is how the name was written in Hawaiian-language newspapers, church records, and family Bibles from the 1800s onward.

How Julia became Iulia

When the first Hawaiian alphabet was printed in 1826 it was fixed at thirteen letters, the five vowels and h, k, l, m, n, p, w, plus the ʻokina. Every foreign name had to be written with those letters and no others, so Hawaiians wrote what they heard, swapping each missing sound for the nearest one the language had.

In Julia J became I.

How to say Iulia

Say it ew-LEE-ah. Hawaiian vowels never change value: a is “ah”, e is “eh”, i is “ee”, o is “oh”, u is “oo”. Every vowel is sounded, so there are as many syllables as there are vowels or vowel pairs. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.

Sources

Hawaiian Dictionary, Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert, University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1986. Used for word meanings and spellings.
Place Names of Hawaii, Pukui, Elbert, and Esther T. Mookini, University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1974. Used for island, town, and volcano names.
Nānā i ke Kumu (Look to the Source), Pukui, Haertig, and Lee, Queen Liliʻuokalani Children's Center, 1972. Used for naming customs.
Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (wehewehe.org), Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library. Used for checking each word against the online dictionary.
Hawaiian given names, Wiktionary category, Creative Commons BY-SA. Used for attested names and gender.
Popular Baby Names by State, U.S. Social Security Administration. Used for popularity.

Uncertain meanings are marked on the page. Modern combinations of name elements are labeled as such. Read how this site is compiled or send a correction.

Questions people ask

What is Julia in Hawaiian?

Julia is Iulia in Hawaiian, pronounced ew-LEE-ah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Iulia?

ew-LEE-ah. Every vowel is sounded and the syllable written in capitals takes the stress. Hawaiian vowels keep one value each: a is "ah", e is "eh", i is "ee", o is "oh", u is "oo".

Why does Iulia look so different from Julia?

Because the Hawaiian alphabet has only thirteen letters, the five vowels and h, k, l, m, n, p, w, plus the ʻokina. In this name J became I.

Is Iulia a real Hawaiian name?

It is a real Hawaiian spelling, used by Hawaiian families for generations, but it is a borrowed name rather than one built from Hawaiian words. If you would rather have a name with a Hawaiian meaning of its own, the girl names list is the place to look.

All 130 English names in Hawaiian · Hawaiian girl's names