Punohu as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Punohu

What is the meaning of the name Punohu ?

The baby name Punohu is a Unisex name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced poo-NOH-hoo (approx. /puˈnohu/).

Punohu is in Origin.

Punohu is a Hawaiian name from ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, taken from pūnohu, a term for mist or haze and, by extension, a pale, low-lying rainbow glimpsed in sea spray or mountain fog. The word evokes gentleness, ephemerality, and blessing, themes common in Hawaiian nature vocabulary. As a given name, Punohu suits any gender and carries the poetic sense of a shimmering veil between rain and sunlight.

Traditional Hawaiian naming practices often memorialize weather, places, and meaningful signs; Punohu fits this pattern and appears in both earlier attestations and modern revivals following the late-20th-century Hawaiian cultural renaissance. Variant spellings include Pūnohu (with kahakō marking the long ū) and the anglicized Punohu without diacritics; both are used. Related nature names, not variants, include Noe (“mist”) and ʻĀnuenue (“rainbow”), which echo its atmospheric imagery.

⚙ Punohu does not appear in any of the birth registries or name datasets we track. This usually means it's either extremely rare, a regional/traditional name not captured by official statistics, or a brand-new coinage. Use it knowing your child will almost certainly be the only one in the room.