Archipelagus plerumque habetur a Praefecto Iacobo Cook appellatus fuisse ex Regali Societate Londinii, auctore primae insularum expeditionis Britannicae; Cook autem in suo diario adfirmat se insulas Societas (Anglice Society) appellavisse "cum eae inter se confines iacerent."
In the History of the Society Islands, the archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands; however, Cook states in his journal that he called the islands Society "as they lay contiguous to one another".WikiMatrix WikiMatrix