What does Nēnē mean in Hawaiian?
Nēnē is a Hawaiian girl name that means the Hawaiian goose, the state bird. The name comes from nēnē (Branta sandvicensis). It is pronounced NEH-neh, with 2 syllables. The stressed syllable is written in capitals.
Nēnē belongs with other Hawaiian names about bird and nature.
The words inside Nēnē
nēnē means Hawaiian goose.
How to pronounce Nēnē
Say every vowel. The vowels in Nēnē are e as in “bet”. A vowel with a line over it (kahakō) is held slightly longer. See the full Hawaiian pronunciation guide.
Is Nēnē a boy or girl name?
Nēnē is listed here as a girl's name. Of the 178 U.S. babies given it, 100% were girls and 0% boys.
How often Nēnē is given in the U.S.
Social Security records show 178 U.S. babies named Nēnē from 1994 to 2023, all girls, counted as Nene because the records drop the ʻokina and kahakō. It appears in 23 of those 30 years. Its peak was 2009, with 13. The 2014 to 2023 total of 66 is fewer than in all earlier years combined. 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 Nēnē?
Nēnē is built from vocabulary recorded in Pukui–Elbert, the standard Hawaiian dictionary, but it has no entry among documented Hawaiian given names.