This post is probably a little overdue since I have had family members ask about this. So sorry if you have been curious all this time.
When we found out we were going to have a baby while still living in Hawaii, we thought it would be fun to give her a Hawaiian name. We kept talking about doing it, but never fully committed. Even up until the day we were in the hospital, we still weren't decided on if we would give her one. We knew we liked Eleanor Reese, and I didn't want to replace Reese. So one of my concerns was her having 2 middle names, and if that would be more of an annoyance to her when she was older. We also didn't want to offend the Hawaiians and have them think that we were one of them now that we lived here.
Hawaiian names are also usually given by an older person, usually an aunty, or uncle(not necessarily family members. Anyone your elder here is considered your aunty or uncle). And they are usually given after the baby is born, and they name the baby according to what happened during the birth. It is a very spiritual, almost sacred process. Since we don't speak Hawaiian, we decided we'd just have a few names in mind ahead of time, then choose which name after she was born. Well, we told some people that, and it caused a little bit of drama. So then I didn't want to do it at all, because I didn't want to disrespect the process.
Some of our friends convinced us that the way we were doing it was fine since we weren't Hawaiian, and we just wanted Eleanor to have a little part of Hawaii with her since she'd be born here. So they helped us pick the name. We actually first chose Kamea (kuh-MAY-ah), which means "The Precious One", but then our friend and her husband both thought of adding "aloha" to the end. So her name is Kamealoha (kuh-MAY-ah-LO-ha) (I'm making up these pronunciations on the spot), which means "The Beloved One". And she can say that she was named by true Hawaiians. Her Uncle Steven and Aunty Kim.
I was nervous I would regret it. 2 middle names. And a LONG extra name at that. But the longer time goes by, the happier I am that we gave her the name. This Christmas her Aunty Kim gave her a gift and addressed it 'To: Kamealoha', and it made me so happy.
So here is Kamealoha dancing in her cute Hawaiian dress her Aunty KC gave her and sandals her Aunty Alison made her. Aloha!
When we found out we were going to have a baby while still living in Hawaii, we thought it would be fun to give her a Hawaiian name. We kept talking about doing it, but never fully committed. Even up until the day we were in the hospital, we still weren't decided on if we would give her one. We knew we liked Eleanor Reese, and I didn't want to replace Reese. So one of my concerns was her having 2 middle names, and if that would be more of an annoyance to her when she was older. We also didn't want to offend the Hawaiians and have them think that we were one of them now that we lived here.
Hawaiian names are also usually given by an older person, usually an aunty, or uncle(not necessarily family members. Anyone your elder here is considered your aunty or uncle). And they are usually given after the baby is born, and they name the baby according to what happened during the birth. It is a very spiritual, almost sacred process. Since we don't speak Hawaiian, we decided we'd just have a few names in mind ahead of time, then choose which name after she was born. Well, we told some people that, and it caused a little bit of drama. So then I didn't want to do it at all, because I didn't want to disrespect the process.
Some of our friends convinced us that the way we were doing it was fine since we weren't Hawaiian, and we just wanted Eleanor to have a little part of Hawaii with her since she'd be born here. So they helped us pick the name. We actually first chose Kamea (kuh-MAY-ah), which means "The Precious One", but then our friend and her husband both thought of adding "aloha" to the end. So her name is Kamealoha (kuh-MAY-ah-LO-ha) (I'm making up these pronunciations on the spot), which means "The Beloved One". And she can say that she was named by true Hawaiians. Her Uncle Steven and Aunty Kim.
I was nervous I would regret it. 2 middle names. And a LONG extra name at that. But the longer time goes by, the happier I am that we gave her the name. This Christmas her Aunty Kim gave her a gift and addressed it 'To: Kamealoha', and it made me so happy.
So here is Kamealoha dancing in her cute Hawaiian dress her Aunty KC gave her and sandals her Aunty Alison made her. Aloha!
3 comments:
I was wondering and Gary filled me in over Christmas. I love her dress by the way!
i love this post.. very sweet sentiment..
So cute!! I love her so much! This post was very sweet and I like that she'll have a bit of Hawaii with her always :)
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