What does ʻiwa mean in Hawaiian?
ʻIwa is the great frigatebird, the black seabird with a seven-foot wingspan that soars ahead of storms and steals fish from other birds. The word also means thief, for that habit. ʻIwa is a unisex name, and it forms Kaʻiwa (the frigatebird), ʻIwalani (heavenly frigatebird), and Leiʻiwa. Haleʻiwa on Oʻahu is the house of the frigatebird.
Say it EE-vah. 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 ʻiwa is part of 2 names: 1 begin with it, 1 end with it. Most are girl names, and all of them sit in the group of Hawaiian names meaning bird.