“Nanakuli”, the first town you encounter as you drive along the island of Oahu’s leeward coast, is a town with many theories on how it was named. There are different translations to this one name. Nanakuli supposedly literally means “Look at knee”, or “knee inspection”. But another theory suggests that the meaning of Nanakuli is actually “pretend to be deaf” in the Hawaiian language. This theory is based on an old story told about this town’s past. In Hawaii, it is customary to offer food to passing travelers. But since the leeward coast has a hot and dry climate, the people living in this area back then were not successful in growing much food at all here. So apparently, in shame of not being able to offer travelers any food as the custom dictates, they would pretend to be deaf - as in simply not respond to any passerby, and generally hid from them. But in the case that they were spotted, they would not respond. Nanakuli shortly afterwards started to be known as the town full of deaf people.
Today, Nanakuli has a population of 12,666 people (According to the 2010 census) on 6.6 sq. miles of area, including the area underwater. This gives a population density of 1,900 per sq. mile. The zip code used is 96792.
This town is home to a nice beach by the name of Nanakuli Beach Park, which is a common get-together spot for locals during the summers, as the water is calmer than in winters. Ulehawa Beach Park is another beach park here. Across Farrington Highway is a valley, where most of Nanakuli’s residents live.