Pāhoa Meeting to Refine Name Proposals for Fissure 8

The Hawaiʻi Board on Geographic Names (HBGN) will hold a followup community meeting in Pāhoa on Thursday, September 19, 2019, to continue community dialogue and collect community stories related to the geographic features created from the 2018 Kīlauea eruption.

The event will open with refreshments at 6 p.m.; the meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Pāhoa Community Center.

The community will also discuss and refine name proposals submitted by the deadline.

At its meeting on Feb. 25, 2019, the Hawaiʻi Board on Geographic Names approved the establishment of a Permitted Interaction Group (PIG). The scope of the PIG’s investigation was to set a submission deadline for any new name proposals for Fissure 8, review all the proposed names for features associated with the 2018 Kīlauea eruption event, and report back to the full board with its recommendations no later than Dec. 31, 2019.

The deadline to submit new name proposals for Fissure 8 has passed (11:59 p.m. HST, Sunday, June 30, 2019). No new name proposals will be evaluated by the PIG.

19 Proposed Names for Fissure 8

• Pu‘u Leilani (named for the subdivision, Leilani Estates, where the fissure is located).

• Pu‘uo‘aila‘au (Hill of ‘Aila‘au).

• Keahiluawalu O Pele (no meaning provided. Submitter said it came to them in a dream).

• Pu‘u Kupaianaha (Pu‘u means hill; Kupaianaha means surprising, strange, wonderful, marvelous).

• Ahu‘aila‘au (Ahu means mound/shrine/altar or cairn; ‘Aila‘au is a volcano deity).

• Pu‘u ‘O Luku (hill of destruction).

• Hanaia‘na (creation).

• Enoho (regeneration).

• Hou Ho‘omaka (new beginnings).

• Keahilapalapa (spreading or blazing fire).

• Kekoheho‘ohenonohoikala‘iopunapaia‘alaikahala (cherished crease occupying the calm of Puna of the forest bower fragrant with pandanus).

• Ke Ahi ‘Ena‘ena (raging fire).

• Luana-Lani (named after Luana Street in Leilani Estates).

• Papalauahi (earth of numerous volcanic eruptions; proposed name for all 24 fissures).

• Pohaha (a reduplicative of paha, which can mean breaking forth, bursting, cracking and volcanic ejecta of any kind).

• Pohaka‘ena (exploding rage).