From today’s Wayne “Keo’s Puts Food On My Table” Harada column:
Looks like KGMB 9 will be hiring a male anchor to team up with Kim Gennaula, beginning this fall. Keahi Tucker, who was an intern-associate producer at Channel 9 before joining one of KGMB’s sister stations in the Midwest, will join the CBS affiliate in September. As Noel Tucker, he has been on WBAL in Baltimore, where he is a reporter and weekend anchor. Insiders say he’ll debut as a reporter, then segue into the anchor slot.
In case you’re confused Keahi is Hawaiian for Noel.
The ‘Tiser: New anchor to team up with KGMB’s Gennaula
2 responses so far ↓
1 Barney Rubin // Aug 3, 2005 at 4:12 pm
“Keahi” is NOT Hawaiian for Noel.
There are two possible ways for trying to find the Hawaiian version of a European-style name. One, the more common, is by transliteration. European names were pronounced (or written) using the closest available Hawaiian phonetic sounds (or letters of the alphabet). Thus “David” becomes “Kawika” or “Diana” becomes “Kiana.” “Carl” becomes “Kale” “Alex” becomes “Alika”. The surname “Wilcox” becomes “Wilikoki”. In one fun example, a local sportscaster used to sometimes use the name “Kimo Leahi” which caused some confusion among those unable to recognize the pidgin accented voice of “Jim Leahey.”
Another possible way would be to actually translate the meaning of the European name into a Hawaiian word with the same meaning. A quick check of the name “Noel” indicates it is derived from the French word for Christmas. The “meaning” of “Noel” in Hawaiian would therefore be “Kalikimaka,” which is kind of a tough name for a kid to haul around. (Actually, this is further complicated by the fact that Hawaiians did not have their own word for Christmas and transliterated the English name for the holiday to come up with the expression “Mele Kalikimaka”– which is further complicated because the word “mele” already had the meaning of “song” or “chant”. I guess it is not too great of a confusion in people’s minds if the term “Mele Kalikimaka” includes suggestions of Christmas songs blended in with a wish for a “Merry Christmas”.
“Keahi,” BTW, is Hawaiian for fire. I suspect that Keahi Tucker has Noel as his first name or middle name, grew up being called Keahi and thought that he would do better in the mainland broadcasting world if he went by “Noel”.
Just a hunch.
2 A. Weight // Aug 30, 2005 at 9:14 am
Actually, you are right, Noel is his first name and Keahi his middle. The funny thing is when he first did some reporting for KGMB, he went by Noel then too…I’m glad they’ve decided to go with Keahi cause we all know him as Keahi, at home on Kauai.