Rachel · English girl’s name

Rachel in Hawaiian is Lahela

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when C fell away, R became L, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end.

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lah·HEH·lah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Rachel in Hawaiian?

Rachel is Lahela in Hawaiian, said lah-HEH-lah.

How Rachel became Lahela

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Rachel C fell away, R became L, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end. Hawaiian does not run two consonants together, and every syllable ends on a vowel. A Hawaiian word cannot finish on a consonant, which is where the last vowel comes from.

Lahela 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 Lahela

Say it lah-HEH-lah, leaning on HEH, 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 Rachel in Hawaiian?

Rachel is Lahela in Hawaiian, pronounced lah-HEH-lah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Lahela?

lah-HEH-lah, with the stress on HEH.

Why does Lahela look so different from Rachel?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Rachel, C fell away, R became L, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end.

Is Lahela a real Hawaiian name?

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

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