Skip to content
Hawaiian Name Finder

Karen · English girl’s name

Karen in Hawaiian is Kalena

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when R became L, and a vowel was added at the end.

Translate another name

Say it

kah·LEH·nah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Karen in Hawaiian?

Karen is Kalena in Hawaiian, said kah-LEH-nah.

How Karen became Kalena

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Karen R became L, and a vowel was added at the end. A Hawaiian word cannot finish on a consonant, which is where the last vowel comes from.

Kalena 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 Kalena

Say it kah-LEH-nah, leaning on LEH, 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 Karen in Hawaiian?

Karen is Kalena in Hawaiian, pronounced kah-LEH-nah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Kalena?

kah-LEH-nah, with the stress on LEH.

Why does Kalena look so different from Karen?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Karen, R became L, and a vowel was added at the end.

Is Kalena a real Hawaiian name?

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

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