Martha in Hawaiian is Maleka | Hawaiian Name Finder

What is Martha in Hawaiian?

Martha is Maleka in Hawaiian, said mah-LEH-kah. 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 Martha became Maleka

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 Martha R became L, T became K, and a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together. Hawaiian does not run two consonants together, and every syllable ends on a vowel.

How to say Maleka

Say it mah-LEH-kah. 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.

Questions people ask

What is Martha in Hawaiian?

Martha is Maleka in Hawaiian, pronounced mah-LEH-kah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Maleka?

mah-LEH-kah. 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 Maleka look so different from Martha?

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 R became L, T became K, and a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together.

Is Maleka 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.