I think Pono Keali`i might have been referring  to meanings, rather than names.  Many place names are very simple--Mauna Loa, for example, clearly describes the shape of mountains on Hawai`i and Moloka`i and, as a name, is simple.  

It is the meaning ascribed to the name that is not simple.  The meaning of the name is often complex because it refers to centuries of use, where the name took on a variety of meanings as it was passed down from parent to child and from neighbor to neighbor.  Every generation constructed its own meaning for the name, which is why we know the name today.  If a generation wasn't interested in the meaning of a name, it would not have been passed down to us. 

This generation is no different.  I'm confident that the name today takes the form that it does so that it will remain alive to be passed to the next generation.