Rebecca · English girl’s name

Rebecca in Hawaiian is Lepeka

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when B became P, C became K, R became L, and the doubled consonant was written once.

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Say it

leh·PEH·kah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

It also means

“Rebekah”

What is Rebecca in Hawaiian?

Rebecca is Lepeka in Hawaiian, said leh-PEH-kah.

How Rebecca became Lepeka

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Rebecca B became P, C became K, R became L, and the doubled consonant was written once. Hawaiian never writes a consonant twice, so the pair collapses to one.

Lepeka as a Hawaiian name

Lepeka is not only a borrowed spelling. It reads as Hawaiian in its own right, meaning “Rebekah”, and it is given as a girl's 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 Lepeka

Say it leh-PEH-kah, leaning on PEH, 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 Rebecca in Hawaiian?

Rebecca is Lepeka in Hawaiian, pronounced leh-PEH-kah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Lepeka?

leh-PEH-kah, with the stress on PEH.

Why does Lepeka look so different from Rebecca?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Rebecca, B became P, C became K, R became L, and the doubled consonant was written once.

Is Lepeka a real Hawaiian name?

Yes. Beyond being the Hawaiian spelling of Rebecca, Lepeka reads as Hawaiian on its own and means "Rebekah". It is in use as a given name in Hawaiʻi today.

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