French Polynesia, Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

French Polynesia

Why Should I Look at This Collection?
This collection is an index of civil registration records that include births, marriages, and deaths from French Polynesia. The records are from the years 1843 to 1999, with a few restrictions. Birth records must be more than 120 years old, marriage records more than 100 years old, and death records more than 75 years old. Each year an additional year's worth of births, marriages, and deaths may be released for publication. The original records are located within the Tribunal Civil in Papeete, Tahiti.

What is in This Collection?
Civil registration of of births, marriages, and deaths for French Polynesia, 1843-1999.

Reading These Records
These records are in [French]. For help with reading the records, see the following resources:
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 1: The French Alphabet (video tutorial)
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 2: Key Words and Phrases] (video tutorial)
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading French Records] (video tutorial)
 * France Language and Languages
 * French Wordlist

Collection Content
Birth records may contain the following information:
 * Birth date
 * Name at birth
 * Parents’ names
 * Child's gender
 * Christening date

Marriage records may contain the following information:
 * Marriage date
 * Groom's parents' names
 * Bride's parents' names
 * Bride's maiden name
 * Groom’s name

Death records may contain the following information:
 * Estimated birth date
 * Deceased's name
 * Spouse's name
 * Parents’ names
 * Burial date
 * Age at death

How Do I Search This Collection?
To search the collection by name: Fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Cite the record. See below for help citing this collection
 * Look at an image of the original record. The original may contain information that was not recorded in the index. To find a copy of the original record, visit the page
 * To help keep track of your research, you may want to keep a research log. FamilySearch has an example example research log which you can download
 * Continue to search the index and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * If your ancestor used multiple names throughout their life, look for all their names
 * Use the age to calculate a birth date and to find other records such as birth, christening, census, land and death records

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.


 * Collection Citation:

"Polynésie française, état civil, 1843-1999." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 2017. Cour d’Appel de Papeete [Court of Appeals of Papeete].

Top of Page