Kete Project Task 1

How New Zealand Names Got Their Name?


Rotorua - It is a full name for the city and lake. Roto means ‘lake’ and rua means ‘two’ or in this case.

Whangarei - For many years the town’s progress was retarded by the primitive “means of road transport” and “inadequate steamer facilities”. The Northland Main Trunk railway from Auckland to the Bay of Islands. “Whangarei” has several meanings, “Whanga” means “laying in wait” and “wei” means “charge”.

Tauranga - Tauranga may mean”landing place”, “anchorage for canoes”, or “place of 50 000 acres of land were confiscated from the Ngaiterangi. A military settlement was established and Tauranga grew up on the site.

Waikato - It is a Maori word traditionally translated as “flowing water”.

Taranaki - means literally “landing place” from the Maori “tau”, “to land”.

Kaikoura - It is came from the word “Te Ahi Kaikoura a Tama ki te Rangi”.

Hokitika - In the ’tipping’ of the Mokihi, three chiefs were drowned. Tanetiki, Tutepipirangi and Tutaemaro were their names.

There was a big battle between the two iwi. Many people were killed. There were so many that the battle was called ‘The heaping of the sharks’.

One survivor out of the battle knew that if the three chiefs were left at Lake Mahinapua, Ngāti Wairangi would take away their mana. Therefore he cut off the three chiefs’ heads and carried them all the way back to Kaiapoi. To do so, he held them by their hair, two in his hand and one in his mouth. He swam through the Hokitika River back to his iwi. The river was named after this battle and means 'correct return'.

This is how Hokitika got its name, ‘The going by the ‘right’ path.’

Wanaka - The name Wanaka is a corruption of Danka, which means “place of Anaka”, Anaka being the name of an early Maori chief of this district.

Otago - The name Otago was adopted, a version of Otaku, the name of the Maori pa near the entrance to the harbour.

Te Anau - It is name after the lake. Early explanations of the meaning of the name then gave way to the obvious interpretation of the full name Te Ana-au.