Portuguese workers arrived in Hawaii with their braguinha, a small four stringed instrument, also known as cavaquinho, and adapted it by using local wood products. Most histories and folklore about the ukulele claim the Hawaiian name roughly means, fleas, to reflect the speed with which the musician fingers move across the four strings.

Another interpretation of the name is that it means, gift that came here," from the native Hawaiian words "uku" meaning gift and "lele" meaning to come.

The Ukulele Guild cites an August 1879 issue of the Hawaiian Gazette newspaper in Honolulu that reports the Portuguese workers from the Madeira Islands been delighting the people with nightly street concerts. The newspaper described the instruments as "a kind of cross between a guitar and banjo" that produced "very sweet music."

Hawaiian King David Kalakaua, a renowned patron of the arts, learned to play the ukulele and became a champion of the instrument, according to the Ukulele Guild. The king had musicians play the instrument to accompany hula dances during his Jubilee celebration in 1886 and during royal parties.

Ballerinas stand on their toes with the help of point shoes, which are made of tightly woven material that forms a box.