Hawaiian Name Finder

beach · Oʻahu

Paumalū

taken secretly

pow-mah-LOO

The Hawaiian name for Sunset Beach, and a warning.

Taken secretly

Pau is finished or consumed and malū is secret or in secrecy. The name comes from a story about a woman who took more octopus than the kapu allowed, in secret, and was bitten in half by a shark for it.

Place names of this kind are instructions. The name records a rule and what happened when it was broken, and it stays attached to the beach so that anyone who knows it is reminded.