The study aims to investigate Okinawan identity development among individuals who grew up in Okinawa and came to Hawai'i to study at a university or community college. The grounded theory approach was used for the qualitative inquiry. Nineteen participants were interviewed about their self-descriptions, spaces where their Okinawan consciousness was provoked and influences of activities and learning regarding Okinawa and Hawai'i on their Okinawan identities. The results pointed to three dimensions of socio-psychological processes of Okinawan identity development in Hawai'i, namely: (1) self-identification as Okinawan in Hawai'i; (2) Okinawan consciousness and identity salience; and (3) a strengthened sense of Okinawan identity. The results were used to construct and discuss the core category of "being more Okinawan in Hawai'i", subsuming all the concepts regarding self-identification, consciousness and identity as Okinawan. The study demonstrated the probability that the more frequently Okinawan international university and college students self-identified as Okinawan and the more intense their Okinawan consciousness and identity salience became, the more likely it was that their Okinawan identities became stronger. The study elucidated the socio-psychological processes of Okinawan identity development in Hawai'i by examining the history and society in Hawai'i to contextualize the empirical results.