The twangy sounds of the ukelele are synonymous with Hawaii, but it wasn't always called the uke. It was originally a braginho, renamed by Hawaiians. Where was the braginho from?

In 1879, a Portuguese immigrant named Joao Fernandez introduced the braginho to the Hawaiian natives, and they took to it, eventually renaming it the ukulele, which interestingly enough translates to "jumping flea".

Asked by Tom Cohen · Last updated 5 years ago · 2.5K views