The instrument has long been associated with Hawaii, but its origins were actually in Portugal. In the late 1870s, Portuguese sailors brought a ukulele-type instrument called the braguinha to the Hawaiian Islands. The native Hawaiians were impressed when they saw the speedy and intricate finger-work of the man playing the stringed instrument; they dubbed it a “ukulele,” which means “jumping flea” in English. In only a decade, it became Hawaii’s most popular instrument.