What does aliʻi mean in Hawaiian?
Aliʻi were the chiefs and the ruling class, ranked by genealogy, and the word also means royal or kingly. ʻAliʻiōlani, chief of the heavens, was a name of Kamehameha V. Kaʻaliʻi is the chief, Aliʻilani a heavenly chief, Aliʻikoa a warrior chief.
Say it ah-LEE-ee. Every vowel is pronounced, and the capitalized syllable takes the stress. The ʻokina (ʻ) is a short catch in the voice, like the break in “uh-oh”. The pronunciation guide covers the rules.
On this site aliʻi is part of 7 names: 2 begin with it, 4 end with it, and 1 carry it elsewhere. Most are boy names, and all of them sit in the group of Hawaiian names meaning royalty.