Hawaiian news station KHON2 recently ran the stories of two people with extremely long Hawaiian names:
- Janice “Lokelani” Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele
Her surname contains 36 letters and 19 syllables.
She was frustrated because Hawaiian driver’s licenses can only handle 35 characters. On her license, her last name gets cut off and her first and middle names don’t appear.
She won’t have to be frustrated long, though, because the Hawaiian government will be upgrading its computer systems later this year. Hawaiian licenses will soon be able to display first names up to 40 characters long, last names up to 40 characters long, middle names up to 35 characters long, and suffixes up to 5 characters long.
- Hi’ileikawainohiamaikalohena Barton
Her first name contains 27 letters (plus an ‘okina) and 12 syllables.
She’s a baby girl whose Social Security card shows only about half of her first name. (The SSA cut-off is 15 letters.)
Ashley Barton, Hi’ileikawainohiamaikalohena’s mother, wants the full first name on the card. The Hilo Social Security Office told Ashley that her only option was to shorten the name. They suggested she split the name in two and use the second portion as a middle name.
No resolution so far, but KHON2 says they’ll “stay on top of it.”
Sources: Feds change baby’s name after it fails to fit on Social Security card, Long-named US woman celebrates government climb-down, State changing policy after woman’s name fails to fit on driver’s license