Another celebrity has gone with a Hawaiian baby name. Helen Hunt has a daughter named Makena Lei, Lisa Bonet has a son named Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha, and now Evangeline Lilly has a son named Kahekili.
This is old news, actually. Lilly’s baby (with boyfriend Norman Kali) was born in mid-2011, and the name was revealed later that year. Kahekili means “the thunder” in Hawaiian: ka is “the” and hekili is “thunder.”
But apparently Lilly has only recently come out with the full story behind Kahekili’s name:
My son was born outside in Hawaii in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm that was so insane that we had an island-wide power outage… We were woken out of our sleep by the thunder, it was so intense, and in Hawaii they call that mana, which is like your essence or your spirit… so we had to name him after his mana.
She’d previously mentioned that the baby was born “outside in a thunderstorm.” Also, that the name wasn’t chosen right away: “My baby did not have a name for a month. It took me a month to name my child.”
A handful of other baby boys have been named Kahekili lately. In fact, over past few years, the name has popped up on the national list three times and on the Hawaii list twice:
- 2012: 6 baby boys named Kahekili nationally
- 2011: unlisted
- 2010: 6 baby boys named Kahekili nationally, 5 in Hawaii
- 2009: 5 baby boys named Kahekili nationally [debut], all 5 in Hawaii [debut]
- 2008: unlisted
I wonder how many of these babies were born during thunderstorms.
What do you think of the name Kahekili?
Sources: Evangeline Lilly – Wikipedia, The Things They Say – Hollywood.com, Evangeline Lilly was in labor for 30 hours (h/t elbowin, for making me look up Tauriel)