What does Hilo mean in Hawaiian?
Hilo is a Hawaiian boy name that means new moon, to braid or twist. The name comes from hilo (first night of the new moon). It is pronounced HEE-loh, with 2 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Hilo belongs with other Hawaiian names about moon and earth.
The words inside Hilo
hilo means first night of the new moon.
Hilo as a place name
Hilo is also a town on Hawaiʻi, where the name is read as new moon, to twist or braid. Place names and given names draw on the same words, so the meanings usually overlap but are not always identical. The page on what Hilo means has the full story, and Hawaiian town and beach names covers the rest.
How to pronounce Hilo
Say every vowel. The vowels in Hilo are i as “ee”, o as in “go”. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Hilo a boy or girl name?
Hilo is used mainly as a boy's name, though Hawaiian itself has no grammatical gender.
How often Hilo is given in the U.S.
Social Security records show 16 U.S. babies named Hilo from 2016 to 2023, all boys. It appears in 3 of those 8 years. Its peak was 2018, with 6. In the Hawaiʻi records it never reaches five births of one sex in a year, the level at which a name is listed.
How well recorded is Hilo?
Hilo has its own entry among Wiktionary’s documented Hawaiian given names.