Lucy · English girl’s name

Lucy in Hawaiian is Luki

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when C became K, and Y became I.

Say it

LOO·kee

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Lucy in Hawaiian?

Lucy is Luki in Hawaiian, said LOO-kee. 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 Lucy became Luki

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 Lucy C became K, and Y became I.

How to say Luki

Say it LOO-kee. 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 Lucy in Hawaiian?

Lucy is Luki in Hawaiian, pronounced LOO-kee. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Luki?

LOO-kee. 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 Luki look so different from Lucy?

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 C became K, and Y became I.

Is Luki 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