A Hawaiian woman has accused officials of ignoring the state's heritage by asking her to shorten her name on official documents.

Janice Lokelani Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele was issued with a driving licence that missed the final letter off her last name and did not include her first and middle names at all.

She told the Honolulu television station KHON2 that truncating her name was "disrespectful to the Hawaiian people", adding: "The county has never accommodated my name on my driver's licence."

She once carried a state ID card that gave her full name, but even that was shortened when she recently renewed it. She said it meant she could not travel and that she fell under suspicion during a police traffic stop when the officer looked at her driving licence.

"He [the police officer] looked at it and he goes, 'Well, where is your first name?' And I said, 'Don't blame me. This is your department."'