What does ao mean in Hawaiian?
Ao is daylight, dawn, and light in general, and also a cloud and the world of the living. It contrasts with pō, the night and the realm of the gods. Kaʻao is the daylight, Aolani a heavenly cloud, Leiao a lei of clouds. Alaula, the flush of dawn, and wanaʻao, daybreak, belong to the same family of words.
Say it OW. Every vowel is pronounced, and the capitalized syllable takes the stress. The pronunciation guide covers the rules.
On this site ao is part of 4 names: 1 begin with it, 3 end with it. Most are boy names, and all of them sit in the group of Hawaiian names meaning light.