List of dual place names in New Zealand facts for kids

The agreed dual name of Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay remembers both the Māori and British explorations of New Zealand.

Some official place names in New Zealand are dual names, incorporating both the original Māori place names and the English names given since European settlement. Although a mixture of Māori and English names is the most common form of dual name, some places, such as Mahināpua Creek / Tūwharewhare, include Māori elements in each part of the name, and Wellington Harbour (Port Nicholson) incorporates two English names.

The practice of giving certain New Zealand places dual names began in the 1920s, but dual names have become much more common in the 1990s and 2000s, in part due to Treaty of Waitangi settlements. Many places have names with a long heritage in each culture. For instance, one settlement saw Cloudy Bay, given this name by Captain Cook in 1770, renamed Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay, with the Māori name recalling the early explorer Kupe scooping up oysters from the bay.

In rare cases, a place may be given two alternative names instead of one dual name. Prominent examples include the mountain called Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont and the town called Whanganui or Wanganui. These places are not included in the list below.

Assignment

Many places were officially given dual names through the 1998 Ngāi Tahu treaty settlement, including Aoraki / Mount Cook.

Official place names in New Zealand are usually determined by the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa). In cases where there have been objections to a proposed name, a final decision is made by the Minister of Lands.

A large number of dual names have been conferred not by the NZGB, but were negotiated as part of Treaty of Waitangi claims settlements and then enacted by Parliament. The 1998 Ngāi Tahu settlement alone established 87 dual names, including Aoraki / Mount Cook.

Orthography

Originally, the board gazetted dual names in a form where the less commonly used name was in parentheses, e.g. Taylors Mistake (Te Onepoto). In the 1990s the system was changed to separating the names with a forward slash, e.g. name1 / name2. Placing a space before and after the slash is encouraged, but this convention is inconsistent with registered official names (e.g. Aoraki / Mount Cook).

The board now generally puts the Māori name first, but exceptions are sometimes made, for example when maritime safety is paramount (e.g. Baring Head / Ōrua-pouanui).

List of dual names