What does honu mean in Hawaiian?
Honu is the green sea turtle, an ʻaumakua or family guardian for many Hawaiian families and a symbol of long life, wisdom and safe passage. Kahonu is the turtle, Honulani a heavenly turtle, Honukai a sea turtle.
The honu is the turtle Hawaiians see most: the green sea turtle that hauls out on black sand to bask, the only sea turtle in the world that regularly comes ashore to rest. A second species, the hawksbill, is honuʻea, and it is far rarer. When someone says honu without qualifying it, they mean the green sea turtle.
As an ʻaumakua the honu is a guardian rather than a pet or a mascot. Families who count the honu among their ʻaumākua understand it as an ancestor taking animal form, watching over swimmers and guiding voyagers home. That is why the turtle carries the meanings it does in tattoo and carving work: longevity, endurance, protection, finding the way back.
Hawaiian green sea turtles are protected under both federal and state law. Approaching, touching or harassing a honu is an offence, and the fines run into the thousands of dollars. The usual guidance is to stay at least ten feet away and never get between a basking turtle and the water.
Say it HOH-noo. Every vowel is pronounced, and the capitalized syllable takes the stress. The pronunciation guide covers the rules.
On this site honu is part of 1 names: 0 begin with it, 0 end with it, and 1 carry it elsewhere. They split evenly between girls and boys, and all of them sit in the group of Hawaiian names meaning ocean.