Tamaiti was born in to a family with a long heritage of been Starfleet officers. He grew up in a reservation on Earth, his people traced there ancestry back to the Maori tribes of New Zealand Tamaiti or Tama to his friends, lost his Father when he was young. His Father who was a Starfleet Captain died when the warp core breached, Tyron managed to save his crew but didn't make it himself. Tama was then raised along with his sister by their mother Samantha and the Uncle Quint who was a starfleet Commander himself. It was Quint who encouraged Tama to head to Starfleet.