A Polynesian form of James or similar biblical names, ultimately from Hebrew Jacob.
Semisi is the Fijian and Tongan form of James, a name whose journey from ancient Hebrew to the Pacific Islands traces centuries of linguistic transformation. James began as the Hebrew Yaakov (יַעֲקֹב) — "one who supplants" or "holder of the heel" — which became the Greek Iakobos, then the Late Latin Jacomus, which split into Jaime in Spanish, Hamish in Scottish Gaelic, Séamus in Irish, and eventually James in English. When Christian missionaries arrived in the Polynesian Pacific in the 19th century, they translated James into the phonological systems of Fijian and Tongan, producing Semisi — a name that preserves the consonants of the original while reshaping them into sounds natural to these languages.
The name carries the full weight of the apostolic tradition behind James: the disciple James the Greater, son of Zebedee, one of Jesus's inner circle, and James the Less are both venerated saints in Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions. In Fijian and Tongan communities, Semisi is one of the most common given names — an indication of how deeply Christianity took root in Polynesian culture following 19th-century missions. It is a firmly masculine name, often carried with ease and without the need for explanation within Pacific communities.
In diaspora communities — Fijians and Tongans settled in New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, and the western United States — Semisi travels with confidence as a marker of Pacific Islander identity. Outside those communities it is rare and distinctive, inviting curiosity about its origins. For families with Fijian or Tongan heritage, naming a son Semisi is an act of cultural continuity that honors both Christian tradition and Pacific identity in a single, beautifully sounded name.