Hawaiian words and phrases for engraving

The most loved Hawaiian words for engraving are short: Aloha (love, affection), Kuʻuipo (my sweetheart), ʻOhana (family), Mau loa (forever), Mālama (take care of) and Hoʻomanaʻo (remember). All of them fit even our smallest space, the 12 characters on the outside of a ring. Longer phrases such as Aloha au iā ʻoe (I love you, 15 characters) fit inside a ring, on a pendant back or inside a bracelet. Every letter, space and ʻokina counts as a character, and our engraving supports the ʻokina and kahakō so the words are spelled correctly.

Our engraving limits

Each placement has its own limit, set by how much room the piece has:

Placement	Limit	Pieces
Ring, outside	12 characters	Heirloom Scroll Ring, Maile Wedding Band
Bracelet, outside	14 characters	Heirloom Scroll Bracelet
Pendant, back	20 characters	Heirloom Pendant
Inside a ring, band or bracelet	25 characters	All rings, wedding bands and the bracelet

Outside engraving is Latin letters only. Inside and back engraving also accept Japanese kana and kanji. See the engraving guide for fonts and examples of finished work.

How to say Hawaiian words

Hawaiian is easier to pronounce than it looks:

• Vowels are always the same: a as in “father”, e as in “bet”, i as in “machine”, o as in “go”, u as in “moon”.
• The ʻokina (ʻ) is a consonant: a brief catch in the voice, like the break in “uh-oh”. Kuʻuipo is “koo-oo-EE-poh”, not “koo-EE-poh”.
• The kahakō, the line over a vowel (ā ē ī ō ū), means hold that vowel a little longer. It also changes meaning: in Hawaiian, words that differ only by an ʻokina or kahakō are different words.
• Stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable, and on any vowel with a kahakō.

Words and phrases that fit

Word or phrase	Say it	Meaning	Characters	Fits
Aloha	ah-LOH-hah	Love, affection, compassion	5	12 · 14 · 20 · 25
Mahalo	mah-HAH-loh	Thank you, gratitude	6	12 · 14 · 20 · 25
ʻOhana	oh-HAH-nah	Family	6	12 · 14 · 20 · 25
Mālama	MAH-lah-mah	To take care of, to protect	6	12 · 14 · 20 · 25
Kuʻuipo	koo-oo-EE-poh	My sweetheart	7	12 · 14 · 20 · 25
Kuʻu ipo	koo-oo EE-poh	My sweetheart (two-word spelling)	8	12 · 14 · 20 · 25
Mau loa	mow LOH-ah	Forever, everlasting	7	12 · 14 · 20 · 25
Hoʻomanaʻo	hoh-oh-mah-NAH-oh	To remember	10	12 · 14 · 20 · 25
Aloha mau loa	ah-LOH-hah mow LOH-ah	Love forever	13	14 · 20 · 25
Aloha nui loa	ah-LOH-hah NOO-ee LOH-ah	Much love, very much aloha	13	14 · 20 · 25
Hoʻomanaʻo mau	hoh-oh-mah-NAH-oh mow	Lasting remembrance	14	14 · 20 · 25
Aloha au iā ʻoe	ah-LOH-hah ow EE-ah OH-eh	I love you	15	20 · 25

“Mau” rhymes with “now”. Hoʻomanaʻo mau is the modern spelling of “Hoomanao Mau”, the words on one of the earliest Hawaiian heirloom bracelets, linked to Queen Liliʻuokalani; our guide to Hawaiian heirloom jewelry tells that story.

Adding a name or date

Many people put a Hawaiian word on the outside and a name or date inside. Some combinations and their counts:

• Kuʻuipo 06.14.2027 — 18 characters, fits inside (25) or on a pendant back (20).
• Mau loa ♥ Leilani — 17 characters with spaces, fits inside or on a pendant back.
• Aloha au iā ʻoe 2027 — 20 characters, fits inside or on a pendant back.

Our Latin character set includes A–Z, a–z, 0–9, spaces, the ʻokina, the kahakō vowels ā ē ī ō ū (and their capitals), and a few symbols: . , ’ & - + ♥ ∞. The counter in the builder shows how many characters you have left as you type.

Spelling matters

• Use the ʻokina (ʻ), not an apostrophe (’) or a curly quote (‘). They look similar on screen but are different characters, and we engrave exactly what you enter. If your keyboard does not have it, copy it from this page.
• Check the kahakō. “Mālama” and “malama” are not the same word to a Hawaiian reader.
• Capitals follow normal English rules. A word at the start of an engraving takes a capital; the ʻokina itself is never capitalised, so ʻOhana capitalises the O.

Your proof shows the engraving text exactly as it will be cut, and you can correct it there at no charge before we start. See how our proof approval works.

Longer phrases

We have kept this list to words and short phrases in wide, everyday use. For anything longer, such as a line from a mele (song), a family saying or a translated vow, please ask a Hawaiian speaker or kumu (teacher) to write it for you. Hawaiian word order and meaning do not map neatly from English, and machine translation gets them wrong often. Once you have the phrase, paste it into the engraving field and the counter will tell you where it fits.