Read this article in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
Names have power. To the Jewish people, the name of God is not spoken because it is so sacred. It is only spelled out with the letters יהוה or /vav he yod he/ if read from right to left. From these Hebrew letters come YHVH pronounced Jehovah in the English Bible. The Jewish people use Adonai or Hashem when referring to Jehovah.
To our Hawaiian people, names have power too. Hawaiian names have immense power, especially of the gods and chiefs. We can see and know the name of the parent of a person due to the presence of /a/ in the name such as ʻUmi-a-Līloa, or ʻUmi the son of Līloa. Kīhā-a-Piʻilani is the son of Piʻilani. Hāʻae-a-Pae is the child of Pae. This knowledge is helpful to those doing genealogical research.
The old ones of Hawaiʻi did not use last names or family names. The use of family names started with a proclamation of law by Kamehameha IV in 1860. If a child was born to a married couple, then the name of the father became the child’s last name. If the mother had not married, then the child took the mother’s name.
The use of poʻoʻole (without a head) for “illegitimate” was a source of pain to the Hawaiians as all children are legitimate. Such was the case of the son of Kamehameha III who was born out of wedlock to Grace Lahilahi Young. This son, Albert Kūnuiākea, never took his mother’s name according to law. Because of his birth status, Kūnuiākea was disparaged by the Calvinist missionaries who urged Kauikeaouli not to name him as heir to the throne. Kūnuiākea was the last of the Kamehameha dynasty, not Pauahi.
It was also lawful for the parent to give the child a Christian name according to their gender. This rule was set aside in 1967.
The law was different for the rulers of the nation. It was quite like to laws of England’s monarchs – they were called by their first name only, such as Elizabeth of Great Britain. This was also the naming procedure for Kalākaua, not Kalākaua Kapaʻakea (the name of his father).
So, too, were the children of Kekaulike and Piʻikoi namely Kawānanakoa, Kalanianaʻole, and Keliʻiahonui. When they were named heirs to the throne, they dropped the name of their father, Piʻikoi. Thus, the descendants of David Kawānanakoa use Kawānanakoa as a surname to this day. If Prince Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole had children, his descendants would have used Kalanianaʻole as their surname.
