Fellows mentioned in this story: Kapā Oliveira

From Hawai‘i Business Magazine:

You may know it as Diamond Head, but Hawaiians call it Lē‘ahi. Lanikai? That’s actually Ka‘ōhao, and the local elementary school has changed its name accordingly.

And that small island across from Kualoa Ranch is Mokoli‘i, which means “little lizard.” Legend says the islet was created when the goddess Hi‘iaka cut off a giant lizard’s tail and tossed it into the sea. That’s a more colorful name and story than the common nickname for the island, which employs an oldtime slur to refer to Chinese people that we won’t repeat here.

For many of us, these traditional names may not come to mind as quickly as the modern nicknames, but the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, Hawaiian scholars and others want you to make the effort to learn and use the Hawaiian names for places across all the Islands.

The HTA’s Ma‘ema‘e Hawai‘i Style and Resource Toolkit, created in partnership with NaHHA, asks “anyone who has a role in representing Hawai‘i” to use the Hawaiian place names first before referring to any English nicknames.

Continue reading at HawaiiBusiness.com.