Mary Ann · English girl’s name

Mary Ann in Hawaiian is Meleana

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when R became L, Y fell away, the doubled consonant was written once, and a vowel was added at the end.

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meh·leh·AH·nah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Mary Ann in Hawaiian?

Mary Ann is Meleana in Hawaiian, said meh-leh-AH-nah.

How Mary Ann became Meleana

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Mary Ann R became L, Y fell away, the doubled consonant was written once, and a vowel was added at the end. Hawaiian never writes a consonant twice, so the pair collapses to one. A Hawaiian word cannot finish on a consonant, which is where the last vowel comes from.

Meleana 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 Meleana

Say it meh-leh-AH-nah, leaning on AH, sounding every vowel: e as in “bet”, a as in “father”. 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 Mary Ann in Hawaiian?

Mary Ann is Meleana in Hawaiian, pronounced meh-leh-AH-nah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Meleana?

meh-leh-AH-nah, with the stress on AH.

Why does Meleana look so different from Mary Ann?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Mary Ann, R became L, Y fell away, the doubled consonant was written once, and a vowel was added at the end.

Is Meleana a real Hawaiian name?

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

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