Betty · English girl’s name

Betty in Hawaiian is Peke

The form Hawaiian speakers have written since the 1800s, when B became P, T became K, Y fell away, and the doubled consonant was written once.

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PEH·keh

The gold syllable takes the stress.

What is Betty in Hawaiian?

Betty is Peke in Hawaiian, said PEH-keh. The same form covers Becky, because Hawaiian writes both spellings the same way.

How Betty became Peke

Hawaiian is written with thirteen letters, so in Betty B became P, T became K, Y fell away, and the doubled consonant was written once. Hawaiian never writes a consonant twice, so the pair collapses to one.

Peke has a page of its own as a Hawaiian given name, with its popularity and the names it is usually paired with.

How to say Peke

Say it PEH-keh, leaning on PEH, sounding every vowel: e as in “bet”. The pronunciation guide covers the whole system.

Where Betty comes from

Betty is a pet form of Elizabeth, the Hebrew Elisheba, often translated as my God is an oath. It was used on its own from the 1700s and was one of the most popular girls' names in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s.

Hawaiian writes it Peke. B became P, the doubled t was written once as k, and the y became e.

Sources the Pukui and Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary, Place Names of Hawaii, Nānā i ke Kumu, wehewehe.org, Wiktionary's Hawaiian given names and U.S. Social Security baby-name records. How this site is compiled · Send a correction

Questions people ask

What is Betty in Hawaiian?

Betty is Peke in Hawaiian, pronounced PEH-keh. It is the form used in Hawaiian-language records since the 1800s, and it covers Becky as well.

How do you pronounce Peke?

PEH-keh, with the stress on PEH.

Why does Peke look so different from Betty?

Each sound Hawaiian lacks was swapped for the nearest one it has. In Betty, B became P, T became K, Y fell away, and the doubled consonant was written once.

Is Peke a real Hawaiian name?

Yes, as a borrowed name. Hawaiian families have used Peke since the 1800s, but it is Betty respelled, not a name built from Hawaiian words.

All 164 English names in Hawaiian · Hawaiian girl's names