Woman's Last Name Doesn't Fit on a Driver's License

Janice Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele has had many issues with her last name.

A Hawaii woman's last name is so long-- contains 36 characters and 19 syllables -- that it doesn't fit on a driver's license.

Janice "Lokelani" Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele (pronounced: KAY'-ee-hah-nah-EE'-coo-COW'-ah-KAH'-hee-HOO'-lee-heh-eh-KAH'-how-NAH-eh-leh) has had to carry two identification cards for the past 20 years--a driver's license and a state identification card, according to The Associated Press.

Her license only has space for 35 characters. Her name surpasses this limit, containing 35 letters and a mark used in the Hawaiian alphabet, called an okina.

In the past, she was able to obtain a state ID card that included her full name. However, when the state ID expired, her new ID arrived with the same omissions as her license.

The issue has made traveling difficult. She's also had a policeman give her a hard time during a traffic stop, she said to KHON2.

“He looked at it and he goes, ‘Well, where is your first name?’” Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele said. “And I said, ‘Don’t blame me. This is your department, this is the county.’”

She got the last name when she married her Hawaiian husband in 1992, according to The AP. He died in 2008, but encountered similar problems with his long last name.

The Department of Transportation decided to address the situation after  Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele contacted her local TV station about the issue, according to the New York Daily News.

The state's Department of Transportation spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter said the state is working to increase the space allotted for names on driver's licenses and ID cards, according to the AP.

The cards will provide 40 characters for first and last names and 35 characters for middle names by the end of the year, she said.

Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele is happy her situation has received publicity.

"If you're going to require people to have picture IDs to identify them, they have to be correct," she told the AP.

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