Hawaiian Name Finder

town · Oʻahu

Haleʻiwa

house of the frigate bird

hah-leh-EE-vah

The main town of the North Shore, named after a hotel.

House of the ʻiwa

Hale is a house and ʻiwa is the great frigatebird, the black seabird with the long forked tail that soars over the channel. The name was given to a hotel built in 1899 at the end of the railway line, and the town took the hotel's name.

The ʻiwa is admired for staying aloft effortlessly for days, and the word is used of a graceful person. It also means thief, because the bird takes fish from other birds in flight.