What does Hiʻilei mean in Hawaiian?
Hiʻilei is a Hawaiian girl name that means cherished child, carried like a lei. The name comes from hiʻi (to carry in the arms) + lei (garland, child). It is pronounced hee-ee-LAY, with 3 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Hiʻilei belongs with other Hawaiian names about love and gift.
The words inside Hiʻilei
hiʻi means to carry in the arms and appears in 3 Hawaiian names, among them Hiʻiaka, Hiʻilani.
lei means garland, wreath and appears in 18 Hawaiian names, among them Leilani, Kalei, Leialoha, Hanalei.
How to pronounce Hiʻilei
Say every vowel. The vowels in Hiʻilei are i as “ee”, e as in “bet”. The ʻokina (ʻ) in Hiʻilei is a short pause, like the break in “uh-oh”. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Hiʻilei a boy or girl name?
Hiʻilei is listed here as a girl's name. Of the 83 U.S. babies given it, 100% were girls and 0% boys.
How often Hiʻilei is given in the U.S.
Social Security records show 83 U.S. babies named Hiʻilei from 2001 to 2023, all girls, counted as Hiilei because the records drop the ʻokina and kahakō. It appears in 13 of those 23 years. Its peak was 2007, with 8. The 2014 to 2023 total of 20 is fewer than in all earlier years combined. In Hawaiʻi itself, 58 babies born in the state were named Hiʻilei from 2004 to 2021, with a peak of 8 in 2007. 17 were born there from 2012 to 2021.
How well recorded is Hiʻilei?
Hiʻilei is built from vocabulary recorded in Pukui–Elbert, the standard Hawaiian dictionary, but it has no entry among documented Hawaiian given names.