William · English boy’s name

William in Hawaiian is Wiliama

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when the doubled consonant was written once, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end.

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wee·lee·AH·mah

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is William in Hawaiian?

William is Wiliama in Hawaiian, said wee-lee-AH-mah.

How William became Wiliama

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in William the doubled consonant was written once, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end. Hawaiian never writes a consonant twice, so the pair collapses to one. 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.

Wiliama 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 Wiliama

Say it wee-lee-AH-mah, leaning on AH, sounding every vowel: i as “ee”, a as in “father”. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.

Where William comes from

William is the Norman French Willelm, from the Germanic words for will or desire and helmet or protection. William the Conqueror brought it to England in 1066, and it soon became one of the commonest English names.

Hawaiian writes it Wiliama. The doubled l is written once, and a closing a turns the final m into a full syllable.

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 William in Hawaiian?

William is Wiliama in Hawaiian, pronounced wee-lee-AH-mah. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s.

How do you pronounce Wiliama?

wee-lee-AH-mah, with the stress on AH.

Why does Wiliama look so different from William?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In William, the doubled consonant was written once, a vowel was slipped between the consonants that ran together, and a vowel was added at the end.

Is Wiliama a real Hawaiian name?

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

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