What is Raymond in Hawaiian?
Raymond is Leimana in Hawaiian, said lay-MAH-nah.
How Raymond became Leimana
Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Raymond D fell away, R became L, Y became I, and a vowel was added at the end. A Hawaiian word cannot finish on a consonant, which is where the last vowel comes from.
Leimana as a Hawaiian name
Leimana is not only a borrowed spelling. It reads as Hawaiian in its own right, meaning “powerful lei, lei of spiritual power”, and it is given as a unisex name in Hawaiʻi today. Its own page has the full meaning, the word it is built from, and names that go with it.
How to say Leimana
Say it lay-MAH-nah, leaning on MAH, sounding every vowel: e as in “bet”, i as “ee”, a as in “father”. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.