[3] Kekūanaōʻa translates as "the standing projection" in the Hawaiian language and refers to the masts of Western ships seen in the harbor at his birth.

[7]: 223  While an obituary at his death identified his father as Nāhiʻōleʻa,[1] on March 14, 1879 the Hawaiian Supreme court identified Kiʻilaweau as the father of Kekuanaoa in probate using the genealogy books of the royal family, proving a legal bloodline line from Keʻelikōlani back to Kiʻilaweau's grandmother, Moana.

[8] John Papa ʻĪʻī's uncle Nāhiʻōleʻa, the aliʻi that took Kalanikapule's side against Kamehameha I and was killed by his cousins, was listed in the newspaper Ke Au Okoa as Kekūanaōʻa's father; however, in the chant for Nakanealoha, the name of Kiʻilaweau is mentioned as a makua.

[12] On December 21, 1863 he was made the sixth Kuhina Nui, replacing his daughter who became Crown Princess and heir apparent to the throne.

[13] In 1866, Mark Twain wrote of Mataio Kekūanaōʻa: "[A] man of noble presence.." and "[S]eemingly natural and fitted to the place as if he had been born to it...."[14] The Territorial Building in the Hawaii Capital Historic District was named for him.

From her he fathered David Kamehameha, Moses Kekūāiwa, Lot Kapuāiwa, Alexander Liholiho, and Victoria Kamāmalu.