What does Līloa mean in Hawaiian?
Līloa is a Hawaiian boy name that means a 15th-century king of Hawaiʻi Island (meaning uncertain). The name comes from chiefly name. It is pronounced LEE-loh-ah, with 3 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Līloa belongs with other Hawaiian names about royalty.
Līloa, ruler of Hawaiʻi Island
Līloa was a ruling chief of Hawaiʻi Island whose court was in Waipiʻo Valley, remembered as the father of ʻUmi-a-Līloa. In the best-known story ʻUmi, his son by a woman of lower rank, came to Waipiʻo carrying tokens Līloa had left for him and was acknowledged as his son. ʻUmi later took the rule of the island.
The meaning of the name itself is uncertain, and it is best understood as the name of that chief. It is rare as a given name today.
How to pronounce Līloa
Say every vowel. The vowels in Līloa are i as “ee”, o as in “go”, a as in “father”. A vowel with a line over it (kahakō) is held slightly longer. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Līloa a boy or girl name?
Līloa is used mainly as a boy's name, though Hawaiian itself has no grammatical gender.
How often Līloa is given in the U.S.
Social Security records show 5 U.S. babies named Līloa from 2012 to 2023, all boys, counted as Liloa because the records drop the ʻokina and kahakō. It appears in 1 of those 12 years. No year since 2012 has five or more babies of either sex given it. 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 Līloa?
Līloa is built from vocabulary recorded in Pukui–Elbert, the standard Hawaiian dictionary, but it has no entry among documented Hawaiian given names.