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Hawaiian Name Finder

Maria · English girl’s name

Maria in Hawaiian is Malia

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when R became L.

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mah·LEE·ah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Maria in Hawaiian?

Maria is Malia in Hawaiian, said mah-LEE-ah. The same form covers Mary, because Hawaiian writes both spellings the same way.

How Maria became Malia

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Maria R became L.

Other recorded spellings of Maria

Hawaiian records do not settle on one spelling for every borrowed name. Alongside Malia, Maria was also written Malaea. 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.

Malia 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 Malia

Say it mah-LEE-ah, leaning on LEE, sounding every vowel: a as in “father”, i as “ee”. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.

Maria, the Latin form

Maria is the Latin and Greek form of the Hebrew Miryam and the spelling used in most European languages. Spanish, Portuguese and Filipino families brought it to Hawaiʻi alongside the English Mary.

Hawaiian writes both as Malia, changing R to L. The same change turned Maria into Malia and Mary into Malia, so the two names meet in one Hawaiian form.

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 Maria in Hawaiian?

Maria is Malia in Hawaiian, pronounced mah-LEE-ah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s, and it covers Mary as well.

How do you pronounce Malia?

mah-LEE-ah, with the stress on LEE.

Why does Malia look so different from Maria?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Maria, R became L.

Is Malia a real Hawaiian name?

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

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