[2][4] Kalaniʻōpuʻu was the son of Kalaninuiamamao and his wife Kamakaʻīmoku, a high ranking aliʻi wahine (female of hereditary nobility).

[5] During his reign, Alapainui had kept the two young princes, Kalaniʻōpuʻu and Keōua, close to him out of either kindness or for political reasons.

He was succeeded by his son, Kīwalaʻō, as king of Hawaiʻi island; and his nephew, Kamehameha I,[13] who was given guardianship of Kū-ka-ili-moku, the god of war.

Family tree based on Abraham Fornander's "An Account of the Polynesian Race" and other works from the author, Queen Liliuokalani's "Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen", Samuel Mānaiakalani Kamakau's "Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii" and other works by the author, John Papa ʻĪʻī's "Fragments of Hawaiian History", Edith Kawelohea McKinzie's "Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers, Vol.

I & II", Kanalu G. Terry Young's "Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past", Charles Ahlo, Jerry Walker, and Rubellite Kawena Johnson's "Kamehameha's Children Today", The Hawaiian Historical Society Reports, the genealogies of the Hawaiian Royal families in Kingdom of Hawaii probate, the works of Sheldon Dibble and David Malo as well as the Hawaii State Archive genealogy books.