Maruia is the daughter of the Danielssons, born on April 11, 1952 she died of leukemia on June 8, 1972. She has a brother and a sister Marei, both adopted from families in Raroia. No name could have suited her better than Maruia, "the sweet".

It was also the name of a chieftainess who ruled over the two atolls of Takume and Raroia, in the Tuamotu archipelago, twenty generations ago. According to tradition, she was kind, benevolent and affectionate, showering everyone with attention, and she prevented dissension among her people by interfering, wanting peace for all her subjects.

Here is an old ballad of Takume-Raroia about the chieftainess and which applies just as well to Maruia, during the happy years she lived in the islands of the great Ocean:

Here is our queen, she bathes, she takes care of her hair in her fresh water source Vai Ehu. She ties her necklace decorated with mother-of-pearl, she surrounds her head with a garland of flowers and she sits down in her big tree. How sweet is the shadow of the tree of Queen Maruia.

Original text of the 1972 announcement