At a Glance
- Origin
- Onondaga (Iroquois/Haudenosaunee)
- Gender
- Boy
- Pronunciation
- hy-uh-WAH-thuh
Hiawatha is an Onondaga (Iroquois/Haudenosaunee) boy's name. It appears in our list of 200+ Native American Baby Names Honoring Indigenous Heritage.
Meaning & Origin of Hiawatha
Origin: Onondaga (Iroquois/Haudenosaunee).
A common claim: Widely said to mean 'He who combs' (from a legend about combing snakes from the sorcerer Tadodaho's hair). Actually: The 'combs' translation comes from one retelling of the Deganawidah/Hiawatha legend, not a settled linguistic translation -- scholars have proposed other, differing glosses. The popular image of Hiawatha as an Ojibwe folk hero also comes from Longfellow's poem, which borrowed this real Iroquois statesman's name but grafted it onto unrelated Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) legends.
Source: Wiktionary.
How to Pronounce Hiawatha
hy-uh-WAH-thuhIPA /ˌhaɪəˈwɒθə/
Popularity of Hiawatha
Lists That Include Hiawatha
Similar Names
Kanti · Aponi · Keme · Anaba · Kitchi · Alsoomse
