Kahana as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Kahana

What is the meaning of the name Kahana ?

The baby name Kahana is a Unisex name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced ka-HAH-nah (Hebrew/Aramaic),kah-HAH-nah (Hawaiian).

Kahana is Aramaic, Hawaiian, Hebrew in Origin.

Kahana has dual linguistic roots. In Hawaiian, it parses as ka “the” + hana “work, deed, craft,” yielding the sense “the work” or, by extension, “industrious one”; it is also a place name (Kahana Valley and Bay on Oʻahu), so the given name can be nature- and place-inspired and is used for any gender. In Jewish Aramaic, kāhănā means “priest,” cognate with Hebrew kohen, used as a clerical title and as a family name.

As a given name, Kahana appears in 19th‑century Hawaiian Kingdom records and remains in use in modern Hawaiʻi and among Polynesian‑heritage families. In Jewish contexts it is better known as a surname, occasionally repurposed as a modern first name in Israel and the diaspora. Variants and cognates tied to the Aramaic root include Kahan, Kahane, Cahana, Kagan, Kogan, and Kohen/Cohen. A Hawaiian-adjacent name, Kahanu, shows similar sound and cultural usage but a different meaning.