The meaning of the name Mo’orea

Once known as Eimeo, the island of beauty is now called Moorea (Mo’orea), which means yellow lizard.
We translate lizard as “mo’o” and yellow as “re’a”.

Located 17 kilometers west-northwest of the island of Tahiti, its name derives from the legend of the jaune lizard, from the neighboring island of Moʻorea called Maiʻao.

Here’s his caption:

In the distant past on the island of Maiʻao, a couple, Temaiātea vahine and Temaiātea tāne, had an unusual child from an egg.

The mother had a vision of a yellow child. When the egg hatched, it revealed a baby yellow lizard named Moʻoreʻa by the father.

The couple feed it until it becomes enormous, provoking their fear.

Fearing the giant lizard, they fled the island by pirogue towards the rising sun. Feeling abandoned, Mo’ore’a threw herself into the sea to find her parents.

Exhausted, he drowned, his body drifting to the shore of Vai ana’e in ʻAimeho.

Fishermen discovered his body, and a high priest renamed the island of ʻAimeho to Moʻoreʻa in honor of the yellow lizard.