Fijian name

Naming conventions in Fiji differ greatly, both between and within ethnic groups in Fiji. Indigenous Fijians have a set of cultural practices which today are more loosely followed, and to some extent blended with elements of European culture with regard to names. In the Indian community, traditional Indian naming practices co-exist with influence from the Fijian and European cultures.

The use of surnames is not traditional in Fijian culture. In recent years, it has become more common, but remains far from universal. Whether to have a surname, and if so, whether to use it, are very much a matter of personal preference. One's last name is not always, therefore, a surname.

The majority of Fijians have two given names, a Christian name taken usually from the Bible, and a traditional name. A child may be baptized or registered with a surname, usually derived from the father's traditional given name. It is not unusual for persons baptized with surnames to discard them; some reclaim them later in life, and some who did not originally have one may later adopt their father's traditional name as a surname. It is not unheard of for Fijians to be known by different names at different stages of their lives.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka was known as "Sitiveni Ligamamada" in his earlier days as a rugby player. Another notable example is George Speight, the instigator of a coup d'état in 2000, who contested the subsequent election under the name of "Ilikimi Naitini." He did not need to change his name by deed poll; he only had to register his candidacy with his surname and English given name omitted. Maciu Navakasuasua, a convicted accomplice of Speight's, revealed on October 28, 2005 that he had emigrated to Australia and avoided a blacklist against his name by using his grandfather's surname, which was registered on both his birth certificate and his passport.

Given the non-universal use of surnames, it is not uncommon for several members of a family all to bear different last names. Well known examples include Ratu Epeli Nailatikau (the President of Fiji between 2009 and 2015) and his brother, Tu'uakitau Cokanauto.

Many Fijians who do not have surnames register their children with their own traditional given name as a surname. Well known examples include the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Fiji's longtime Prime Minister and President, whose children are surnamed Mara, though it was his given name, not his surname as most foreigners wrongly suppose. President Nailatikau has likewise passed his given name on to his children as a surname.

Ratu Josefa Iloilovatu Uluivuda, better known simply as "Ratu Josefa Iloilo", who served as President of Fiji from 2000 to 2009, is an example of a Fijian who had a surname, but did not generally use it, except for legal purposes. Iloilo, the name by which he was generally known, which most non-Fijians mistakenly assumed to be his surname, was thus a diminutive of his second given name. This shortening of names is another common Fijian custom; another notable example of this phenomenon is rugby star Rupeni Caucaunibuca, widely referred to both inside and outside Fiji as Caucau.

The longest name of any Fijian is reported to be that of Levani Mavoa, a resident of Vadravadra on Gau Island. His full surname, Mavoaiuluivitimaitaveunienanodralakicakacakatakanavalenilotunagonenivadravadraenaesitetimaiuraqaicuruvularuaenavaleniveivakabulaimaiwaiyevoenayasanakocakaudrove, roughly translates to "injured while on Taveuni when the people of Vadravadra went to work at Ura Estate where he got injured and was later admitted for two months at the Waiyevo Hospital in the province of Cakaudrove" and is regarded as the longest Fijian word.