The New Zealand Geographic Board is thinking about changing the names of the North Island and the South Island. The Board members think that these two islands should have Maori names instead. Certainly, North Island and South Island are not very interesting names.

Maori called the South Island ‘Te Wai Pounamu’. Pounamu is greenstone. It is also called jade. Pounamu is found in a few places in the South Island only, mainly in rivers on the West Coast. South Island Maori used it for tools and weapons because it is hard, and they also made beautiful things like earrings. They also traded pounamu with North Island Maori.

The Maori name for the North Island was Te-Ika-a-Maui, the fish of Maui. Maori legend tells a story of Maui fishing up the North Island.

Captain Cook named some places like Cook Strait, and those names were used by Europeans. Many city names like Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, were given by the Europeans who settled in these areas. Some places were named after European heroes like Wellington and Nelson. The first governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, named Auckland after his hero, Lord Auckland, who was Governor-General of India at the time. Many other places were named after men who were important in British India, like Napier and Hastings. Christchurch was settled by Church of England people and Dunedin was settled by people from Scotland. The name is Scottish Gaelic for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Maori had names for these places and often that name is still used for some parts of the area.

However, it is becoming more common to use the Maori name for some places. Mt Egmont is now called Taranaki, the name that was always used for the province. Mt Cook is often called Aoraki Mt Cook. New Zealand is often called Aotearoa New Zealand.