Kawika
Masculine · “Beloved”
Kawika is David in Hawaiian, and the shape of the change is a lesson in the language: Hawaiian has eight consonants, no d, no v, and no words ending in a consonant, so Dāwīd comes out as Kawika.
How old is the name Kawika?
Kawika first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Kawika alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 1,200 people named Kawika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kawika most popular?
Kawika peaked in 1979, reaching #1711 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 3,897 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dāwīd to Kawika
The story of Kawika
Protestant missionaries reached Hawaii in 1820 and had the Bible in Hawaiian within twenty years, which put the whole cast of biblical names into the language in adapted form: Kawika for David, Iokepa for Joseph, Kimo for James, Malia for Mary, Keoni for John. These have been ordinary Hawaiian names for six generations. Kamehameha's dynasty took David as a Christian name, and Prince David Kawānanakoa carried it. American records show Kawika chiefly in Hawaii, with a peak in 1979, in the period of the Hawaiian cultural renaissance that also revived the language and the voyaging traditions.
Meaning
Beloved
Kawika is the Hawaiian form of David, from Hebrew Dāwīd, generally read as beloved. The reading is settled and belongs to the Hebrew name. The Hawaiian form is a regular phonological adaptation: d becomes k, v becomes w, the consonants are separated by vowels, and a final vowel is added, because Hawaiian syllables cannot end in a consonant.
How the name formed
- Dāwīd
- David
- Kawika
Related forms: Kawika · Tevita · Rāwiri · David
Pronouncing Kawika
kah-VEE-kah
Three syllables, all open, stress in the middle. Hawaiian w between vowels is often said as a v, so the name is nearer kah-VEE-kah than kah-WEE-kah, and both are heard.
Nicknames for Kawika
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1968
- Most boys named
- 199235 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1711reached in 1979
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%16 in 2025, from 12
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Kawika in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kawika in Hawaiian — same name
- Tevita in Tongan — related form
- Rāwiri in Māori — related form
- David in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Hawaii, California.
Kawikas among us
people named Kawika are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Kawika
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Guerino test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kawika's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Guerino climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Guerino's path sketches the road Kawika is walking now.
Kawika sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Kawika beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kawika in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is David, with all that name's history, in a form nobody else in the room will have.
- The meaning is settled and needs no explanation.
- Dave is available in English-speaking settings.
- The middle consonant is said two ways even in Hawaii.
- It is unfamiliar outside Hawaii and will be spelled out.
- English speakers reduce the vowels, which flattens the Hawaiian shape.
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What they receive
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Kawika
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kawikas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Kawika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kawika in 2025?
- Kawika ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kawika?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Kawika — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kawika with classmates?
- Kawika will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kawika
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kawika? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kawika and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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