Are Hawaiian and Samoan the same?
Christopher Davis
Updated on May 15, 2026
American Samoa
The Samoans are a Polynesian people closely related to the native peoples of New Zealand, French Polynesia, Hawaii, and Tonga.Are Hawaiians Polynesian or Samoan?
Native Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians (Hawaiian: kānaka ʻōiwi, kānaka maoli, and Hawaiʻi maoli), are the Indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii was settled at least 800 years ago with the voyage of Polynesians from the Society Islands.Did Hawaiians originate Samoa?
Wilson's findings differ from the commonly held notion among linguists and anthropologists that East Polynesia, including Hawaii, was first settled from Central Western Polynesia, most likely from Samoa, according to his paper.What race are Samoans?
Ethnic groupsSamoans are mainly of Polynesian heritage, and about nine-tenths of the population are ethnic Samoans. Euronesians (people of mixed European and Polynesian ancestry) account for most of the rest of the population, and a tiny fraction are of wholly European heritage.