April 02, 2013
‘Te Ika a Maui’ to become official
If you've been calling the North Island 'Te Ika a Maui' and the South 'Te Wai Pounamu', the Geographic Board may be about to endorse you.
The board will consult on proposals to formally assign official alternative names to New Zealand’s two main islands.
That means that either the English name or the Maori name – or both names together – could be used officially.
Chair Dr Don Grant says when the board received a proposal to change the name ‘South Island’ to 'Te Waipounamu', it spotted that the existing English names were recorded names, rather than official names.
It agreed in principle that the English names should be formalised, and at the same time be assigned Maori alternative names.
He says those were decided after consultation with iwi, and the proposal will now be put out for comment.