What does Kaʻeokūlani mean in Hawaiian?
Kaʻeokūlani is a Hawaiian boy name that means the zealous heavenly one, an 18th-century chief of Kauaʻi. The name comes from kaʻeo (zealous) + kū (to stand) + lani (heaven). It is pronounced kah-eh-oh-koo-LAH-nee, with 5 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Kaʻeokūlani belongs with other Hawaiian names about royalty.
Kaʻeokūlani of Kauaʻi and Maui
Kaʻeokūlani, often called Kaʻeo, was a chief of the late 1700s, a younger son of the Maui ruler Kekaulike. He served as regent of Maui and Molokaʻi and married Kamakahelei, the ruling chiefess of Kauaʻi, and their son Kaumualiʻi became the last independent ruler of that island.
He was killed in December 1794 at the Battle of Kukiiahu on Oʻahu, fighting his nephew Kalanikūpule, a few months before Kamehameha's victory at Nuʻuanu. The name is a chiefly one, and it keeps that lineage in view.
The words inside Kaʻeokūlani
kaʻeo means full, zealous and appears in 2 Hawaiian names, among them Kaʻeo.
kū means to stand, upright and appears in 5 Hawaiian names, among them Kū, Kūpono, Kūaliʻi, Kūpaʻa.
lani means sky, heaven and appears in 53 Hawaiian names, among them Kailani, Kalani, Leilani, Lani.
How to pronounce Kaʻeokūlani
Say every vowel. The vowels in Kaʻeokūlani are a as in “father”, e as in “bet”, o as in “go”, u as “oo”, i as “ee”. The ʻokina (ʻ) in Kaʻeokūlani is a short pause, like the break in “uh-oh”. A vowel with a line over it (kahakō) is held slightly longer. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Kaʻeokūlani a boy or girl name?
Kaʻeokūlani is used mainly as a boy's name, though Hawaiian itself has no grammatical gender.
How often Kaʻeokūlani is given in the U.S.
No year from 1880 to 2023 saw five or more U.S. babies named Kaʻeokūlani, and it never reaches five in the Hawaiʻi records either, so it is rare as a first name.
How well recorded is Kaʻeokūlani?
Kaʻeokūlani is built from vocabulary recorded in Pukui–Elbert, the standard Hawaiian dictionary, but it has no entry among documented Hawaiian given names.