Help translating my son's name
 

My son will be born in a couple months and i would like to get a tattoo of his name in Quenya Elvish in a Tengwar script...I have my daughters name already on one wrist. My son's name will be Alakai, pronounced ah-lah-kay. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

If you want the name translated rather than just transcribed in to the writing, the meaning of the name is needed. I can find Alakai as a Hawaiian name meaning leader or guide is that correct?

What does it mean?
 

Welcome to the Downs, jedinawar!:)

I agree with Mithalwen here, that you need to give us the name's meaning, if you'd like a translation into Quenya.

Actually, there is another forum that has a whole thread dedicated to this. They have someone who responds back very quickly and his transcriptions are very accurate :). http://forums.theonering.com/viewtopic.php?t=101525

Thanks Wilwa ... I might have had a shot at translation but transcription requires an expert ..especially for something that permanent ... feel too guilty if you got it wrong...:eek: When I was working in France my contract came through with the "y" of my middle name (Mary) replaced by an "x" ...I suppose they thought my parents were communists....

I'm no expert, but I'll take a shot at the transcription of Quenya cáno 'commander' for instance (although the more detailed meaning is actually: 'usually as the title of a lesser chief, especially one acting as the deputy of one higher in rank').

The following is my guess at the transcription. I don't know how to show you in a picture in this thread, but just follow the numbers given below to find the Elvish characters in the chart in The Return of the King. The names in italic lettering below are just the names of the characters -- all you really need is to match the numbers to see the shapes. So I think one way to write this word would be:

calma (3), followed by an a-tehta (three dots is usual) above a long carrier (looks like an undotted j), then númen (17) with an o-tehta (looks like a curl open to the right) above it -- above the character númen I mean.

Thus calma (c), long a, and númen (n) with o above it.

If 'leader' is correct as a translation that is! and cáno 'commander' close enough for you too!


So far it does look like you want a Quenya name with a similar enough meaning, also in the Elvish letters. Incidentally, the chart gives the 'basic' shapes of the letters, which can alter a bit of course, according to a given font or design.

Well, looks like you don't want a translation, as you have now posted in the linked thread...

The problem is that you first posted (here) '... tattoo of his name in Quenya Elvish in a Tengwar script'.

Of course, Quenya is a language, and the tengwar can be used to write various languages. One can even adapt the tengwar to write in various 'modern' languages (modern compared to ancient languages like Quenya, Sindarin, Westron), as Tolkien himself did for English, for instance.

It makes sense to me that you want the actual name (sound-sequence) of your son, in Elvish lettering, but that wasn't wholly clear here... unless you changed your mind maybe.