Tahitian Names and Meanings

How Tahitian names work

Reo Tahiti is the closest living relative of Hawaiian. The two languages split about a thousand years ago, when voyagers from the Society Islands settled Hawaiʻi, and the sound changes since then are regular. Tahitian keeps the t and r that Hawaiian turned into k and l, so Tahitian Tane is Hawaiian Kāne, Tahitian raʻi (sky) is Hawaiian lani, and the Tahitian word for water, vai, is Hawaiian wai. Where a Hawaiian name has an ʻokina, the Tahitian form usually has one too, since both languages lost the same old consonants.

Popular Tahitian names are built the same way as Hawaiian ones, from words for the sea, sky, flowers, and pearls. Moana is the ocean, Tiare is the white gardenia that is the national flower, Poerava is the black pearl, and Vaiana is cave water. Names beginning with te (the) mirror Hawaiian names beginning with ke and ka. Tearii is the chief, Tevai is the water, Terai is the sky.

Names from tradition

Hina, the moon goddess, and Māui, the demigod, are shared across Polynesia and are ordinary given names in Tahiti. Tamatoa, warrior son, is an old chiefly name of Raʻiātea, and Teva is the name of a chiefly clan of Tahiti. Vaiana became world famous when the 2016 film Moana was released under that title in Europe, where Moana was already a trademark.