I gave birth to my second baby girl today , three years ago. For the first 7 months of my pregnancy her name was Kalia because I googled it and read that in Hawaii, Kalia means Beauty. Someone recently reminded me that Google does not know everything and they are right about that. When Pat and I took Maile to Hawaii just 2 months before her baby sister was due his family scoffed at the name.
“Hui, bra – wat you naming your girl??? Uh? Why you going name her fo one mango tree?”
Turns out Kalia is just some tree in Hawaii and the Hawaiians are pretty sensitive about the whole naming thing. That’s why some of their names are so freaking long. Kalua’oepaupuaualikei’iunamakelakehilekahinei’ho. And they each have very important, worldly meanings.
Bottom line. We couldn’t name our daughter after a tree…even thought I though it was pretty.
When we got home I told Pat we were not changing Kalia’s name and I challenged him to think of something better. I had exhausted girl names. Most of the names I came up with Pat vetoed. This name is “too white” that name is “too generic”. He’s a very picky fella. We had been discussing names for 7 months and after ALL that talk Kalia was what stuck. My baby’s name was Kalia. Period.
I went to my Mom’s house to vent to her and Baby. I told them about our dilemma and how frustrated I was with Hawaiians and their silly “name has to have meaning” protocol. The child makes the name, not the other way around.
Me: I mean SERIOUSLY! I challenge ANYONE to think of a better name than Kalia. That’s her name. I can’t believe one trip to Hawaii is changing my baby’s name!!!
Brief pause after my vent.
Baby: ………..what about Laina????
Brief pause as I ponder the name.
Me: Ooooh. I kinda like that.
And it stuck. Luckily Laina has some good Hawaiian meaning too. In Hawaii, spelled the way it is, it just means “line” and in English it means “light”. But notice if you unscramble the letters you can get Lanai, which is where Pat was mostly raised and we were married. Perfect.
And then she was born. And oh how I wish it had happened just that easily. But it didn’t. Giving birth to Laina was the single most physically painful and life threatening event I have endured.
More tomorrow.
Pua says
This made me laugh. My name is Pualani Malia, which, if you couldn’t tell is Hawaiian. I am extremely white, but was born there and lived there again for three years due to the military. I grew up knowing the story behind my name which means “Heavenly flower.” When my husband decided for our second baby he wanted a Hawaiian name, I got a lecture from my mom that we need to find one with MEANING, not just a pretty sounding one. We didn’t find that meaningful name, so we decided on another Irish name instead.