TIL in 1901, Hawaiian legislators passed a bill naming every county after aliʻi nui. Governor Dole killed it by refusing to sign.

Our take

In 1901, a pivotal moment in Hawaiʻi's history unfolded when Kānaka ʻŌiwi legislators passed a bill to name counties after aliʻi nui, honoring the islands' rich cultural heritage. This legislation, which would have transformed Maui into the County of Liliʻuokalani and Oʻahu into the County of Kalohana, passed both chambers but awaited the signature of Governor Sanford Dole. Instead of endorsing this homage to Hawaiian lineage, Dole opted for silence, effectively killing the bill through a pocket veto. This decision marked the beginning of a century-long pattern of toponymic subjugation, where native place names were replaced by geographic identifiers.

I was supposed to live in the County of Kalohana, not Honolulu. It passed both chambers. It was law waiting for a signature. A single man decided for us by not picking up a pen.

In 1901, Kānaka ʻŌiwi legislators in Hawaiʻi's first territorial legislature passed a bill that would have named our counties after aliʻi nui. Maui would have become the County of Liliʻuokalani. Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, the County of Lunalilo. Oʻahu, the County of Kalohana. Hawaiʻi Island split into the County of Kauikeaouli and the County of Kamehameha.

House Bill 48 passed both chambers on April 26, 1901. The Maui News ran a headline the next morning: "Liliuokalani County." This was law waiting for a signature.

Governor Sanford Dole never signed it. He sat on it for ten days until the session ended, killing it through a pocket veto so there would be no chance for an override. When Kānaka legislators demanded answers, he did not reply.

By 1903, the Home Rule party had lost its majority. The county system that finally passed used geographic names stripped of genealogy, stripped of the message those Kānaka legislators were sending. They were asserting that this ʻāina still belonged to its people.

I learned that there is a word for what happened next, over and over, for a hundred years. Toponymic subjugation. Puʻuloa became Pearl Harbor. Lēʻahi became Diamond Head. By 1976 scholars estimated only 86% of place names across the islands were still in Hawaiian.

Now restoration is happening. Slowly. Hawaiʻi Island was officially recognized as Moku o Keawe in 2025. I hope that somewhere a generation of Kānaka will grow up never knowing the name Diamond Head. Or Pearl Harbor.

I learned of this history from the excellent paper "Race, Power, and the Dilemma of Democracy: Hawaiʻi's First Territorial Legislature, 1901" by Dr. Ronald Williams, Jr.

Source: https://www.academia.edu/19822502/Race_Power_and_the_Dilemma_of_Democracy_Hawai%CA%BBis_First_Territorial_Legislature_1901

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#Hawaiian mixology#Kānaka ʻŌiwi#Hawaiʻi's first territorial legislature#aliʻi nui#County of Liliʻuokalani#toponymic subjugation#County of Lunalilo#County of Kalohana#ʻāina#County of Kauikeaouli#County of Kamehameha#Moku o Keawe#House Bill 48#Governor Dole#Pearl Harbor#Diamond Head#Home Rule party#pocket veto#geographic names#legislators