New Hawaii license plates could look different in 2025

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hawaii is known as the Aloha State and officials are hoping to show their love for the Hawaiian language with a new requirement to include the ʻokina on new license plates.

Hawaii has seen the addition of the ʻokina and other Hawaiian diacritical marks added to street signs in recent years, they are even required in official State and County letterheads and websites.

The ‘okina, a diacritical mark in the Hawaiian language, is a glottal stop. It can be seen in some local spellings of the state’s name, Hawai’i.

The Honolulu Department of Consumer Services said adding the ʻokina to Hawaii’s iconic license plates follows that same trend.

“So this is also consistent with that,” said DCS director Kim Hashiro, “and we’re really just trying to make sure that we’re representing the Hawaiian language as accurately as possible.”

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It is illegal to have the ʻokina on license plates under current law — legislators are working on changing that and advocates said it is more than just a diacritical mark.

“It’s the 13th letter in the Hawaiian alphabet. Our alphabet goes A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W, ʻokina,” said Hawaiian language advocate Hailama Farden. “To leave out the ʻokina is like leaving the ‘C’ out of California.”

Some legislators tried to pass bills this session that would require Hawaiian language to be taught in schools, the proposed bills are no longer moving forward but one of their introducers is in full support of the ʻokina bill.

The proposal would only apply to license plates issued starting in 2025, so locals will not have to turn in their current plate if it passes.

The bill is scheduled for a full Senate vote on Tuesday, April 9.

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