Call a kaumatua and ask for a new name to be “gifted”.
That’s our advice to Green MP Julie Anne Genter, who is miffed about the name the Electoral Commission has given to the electorate which she hopes to represent in the next Parliament.
Names that have been “gifted” by local Maori have a strong chance of being adopted by public authorities.
Genter is MP for Rongotai, named after an area on the isthmus between Lyall Bay and Evans Bay in Wellington.
She says “Rongotai” should not have been changed to Wellington Bays, because consultation was not “fulsome”.
Three people made submissions.
The New Zealand Herald reports:
The constituency, representing southeastern parts of Wellington and the Chatham Islands, was renamed Wellington Bays from Rongotai in 2025.
The name change followed a Representation Commission boundary review, which also re-grouped the Ōhāriu, Ōtaki, and Mana seats into two new electorates, and amended other seat names. Reviews take place every six years to ensure seats are representative of population statistics.
The Electoral Commission said the most important factor guiding decision making had been the need to choose electorate names that would last for several boundary review cycles without having to be amended.
Further north, PoO notes that the name for a new joint water organisation has been confirmed in the past fortnight.
Tāheke – Bay Waters Limited has been confirmed as the name for the new joint Water Organisation being established by Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Tauranga City Council to deliver drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services across the sub-region.
The press statement says:
Tāheke speaks to the flow of water descending or flowing down. From drops of rain, to mighty rapids and powerful waterfalls, Tāheke describes the flow of water across our natural environment and landscape.
Bay Waters is inspired by the waters that define and connect our region.
The naming process is worth noting, because there is no mention of gifting:
The name was developed through a collaborative process involving Water Services staff from both councils, tangata whenua representatives, Te Reo Māori experts and Joint Committee representatives.
Feedback and insights were gathered through a series of workshops and wānanga to help identify themes, values and aspirations that would inform the organisation’s future identity.
But in Kawerau, Maori have “gifted” the name – Manaia – for a new housing development being built at Stoneham Park.
Te Ao Maori News reports :
The names used in a new housing development at Stoneham Park in Kawerau tell the story of the area’s history and whakapapa.
Tūwharetoa mai Kawerau ki te Tai gifted the names, with Kawerau District adopting them at a meeting this week.
The development is to be named Manaia.
Manaia is the name given to the iwi’s eponymous chief, Tūwharetoa, at his birth.
Street names Rākei Marama Road, Manaia Wharepū Drive, and Hinewhariua Place, reflect the firstborn offspring from each of Tūwharetoa’s three wives.
Rākei Marama was his first-born son with his first wife, Uira; Manaia Wharepū was his first-born daughter with second wife, Paekitawhiti; and Hinewhariua was his first-born daughter of third wife, Hinemotu.
The names were put forward by the council’s iwi liason and cultural advisor Te Haukakawa Te Rire, who explained the significance of the names at this week’s meeting.
The gifting process was applied, too, in the official naming of East Auckland’s newest sports facility, the Highbrook Regional Watersports Centre. .
The watersports centre has been gifted the name Te Wai o Uru, or Te Waiouru, for the Waiouru Peninsula, which is another name for Highbrook.
Four gifted names can be found on stations on the City Rail Link Ltd in Auckland.
The company, in partnership with Auckland Transport on 6 May 2022 announced the four “proposed” te reo Māori names for the four CRL stations.
She says “Rongotai” should not have been changed to Wellington Bays, because consultation was not “fulsome”.
Three people made submissions.
The New Zealand Herald reports:
The constituency, representing southeastern parts of Wellington and the Chatham Islands, was renamed Wellington Bays from Rongotai in 2025.
The name change followed a Representation Commission boundary review, which also re-grouped the Ōhāriu, Ōtaki, and Mana seats into two new electorates, and amended other seat names. Reviews take place every six years to ensure seats are representative of population statistics.
The Electoral Commission said the most important factor guiding decision making had been the need to choose electorate names that would last for several boundary review cycles without having to be amended.
Further north, PoO notes that the name for a new joint water organisation has been confirmed in the past fortnight.
Tāheke – Bay Waters Limited has been confirmed as the name for the new joint Water Organisation being established by Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Tauranga City Council to deliver drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services across the sub-region.
The press statement says:
Tāheke speaks to the flow of water descending or flowing down. From drops of rain, to mighty rapids and powerful waterfalls, Tāheke describes the flow of water across our natural environment and landscape.
Bay Waters is inspired by the waters that define and connect our region.
The naming process is worth noting, because there is no mention of gifting:
The name was developed through a collaborative process involving Water Services staff from both councils, tangata whenua representatives, Te Reo Māori experts and Joint Committee representatives.
Feedback and insights were gathered through a series of workshops and wānanga to help identify themes, values and aspirations that would inform the organisation’s future identity.
But in Kawerau, Maori have “gifted” the name – Manaia – for a new housing development being built at Stoneham Park.
Te Ao Maori News reports :
The names used in a new housing development at Stoneham Park in Kawerau tell the story of the area’s history and whakapapa.
Tūwharetoa mai Kawerau ki te Tai gifted the names, with Kawerau District adopting them at a meeting this week.
The development is to be named Manaia.
Manaia is the name given to the iwi’s eponymous chief, Tūwharetoa, at his birth.
Street names Rākei Marama Road, Manaia Wharepū Drive, and Hinewhariua Place, reflect the firstborn offspring from each of Tūwharetoa’s three wives.
Rākei Marama was his first-born son with his first wife, Uira; Manaia Wharepū was his first-born daughter with second wife, Paekitawhiti; and Hinewhariua was his first-born daughter of third wife, Hinemotu.
The names were put forward by the council’s iwi liason and cultural advisor Te Haukakawa Te Rire, who explained the significance of the names at this week’s meeting.
The gifting process was applied, too, in the official naming of East Auckland’s newest sports facility, the Highbrook Regional Watersports Centre. .
The watersports centre has been gifted the name Te Wai o Uru, or Te Waiouru, for the Waiouru Peninsula, which is another name for Highbrook.
Four gifted names can be found on stations on the City Rail Link Ltd in Auckland.
The company, in partnership with Auckland Transport on 6 May 2022 announced the four “proposed” te reo Māori names for the four CRL stations.
- Maungawhau Station (in place of an area of Auckland known nation-wide as Mt Eden)
- Karanga a Hape Station (to put us right about Karangahape)
- Te Wai Horotiu Station (much better than Aotea, eh?)
- Waitematā Station (to wean us off the familiar name Britomart)
The ngā ingoa tuku iho (traditional names) were gifted by CRL Ltd Mana Whenua Forum and honour the long-standing partnership the Forum’s eight iwi have had with CRL since day one of the project in 2012.
There was no disguising the educative purpose of the naming:
“The process is about reinstating the traditional names of the areas the stations will serve – looking back to a time before concrete and skyscrapers when people lived off the land. When we re-establish a traditional name, for example Maungawhau, it offers a sense of place,” said CRL Ltd’s Mana Whenua Forum.
But don’t imagine it’s as easy as that to slap new names on railway stations.
On 31 May 2022 the company announced that in conjunction with Auckland Transport it had formally applied to the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa to name its four rail stations.
The board is responsible for the nation’s nomenclature, assigning new names and altering or discontinuing existing ones.
And hey – the people of Auckland were enabled to have their say:
People can provide feedback on the names to the NZGB once it starts its consultation process.
The 31 May press statement reminded the public the names had been gifted “to the people of Auckland” by the CRL’s Mana Whenua Forum. The names
… celebrate the project’s strong links to mana whenua history and storytelling and more accurately reflect the station’s geographic locations.
PoO would like to learn more about who influenced whom in the deliberations.
For example, records of a meeting in December 2022 say that on 17 August 2022 the board had declined the four proposals from Auckland Transport and City Rail Link “and accepted four new proposals after consulting with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei”.
The record of this decision said the changes to the original proposals were to ensure consistent use of the generic term ‘railway station’, standardised orthography (Karanga a Hape to Karanga-a-Hape and Te Wai Horotiu to Te Waihorotiu), and to retain the existing name Mount Eden Station as part of a dual name, Maungawhau / Mount Eden Railway Station.
That was based on long-term use of the existing name serving the suburb of Mount Eden and for consistency with the associated official name for the maunga.
A consultation was opened for 11 weeks from 23 August 2022 to 9 November 2022 and here’s how the public responded:
Click to view
More opposed than in support, by the looks of it, although very few Aucklanders were bothered to have their say – or many Aucklanders had no idea they were being consulted.
In the upshot, the record shows that “following the public consultation process”, these names—Maungawhau, Karanga-a-Hape, Te Waihorotiu, and Waitematā were formally adopted and finalised by the Geographic Board in March 2023.
“Mt Eden” – curiously – had disappeared.
PoO isn’t sure what NZ First leader and Rail Minister Winston Peters thought about those names at the time.
But he was among those who celebrated the opening of the $5.5 billion City Rail Link a few weeks ago – and in his speech at the Te Waihorotiu Station he said:
“And here we are at the Wellesley and Mayoral Drive station, beyond the Auckland Central Station, and beyond the K Road and Mt Eden stations,” he said.
“Those are names that people know. Instead we’ve been tasked to learn new names.
“So thank you Auckland Transport, or should I say ‘nga mihi’.”
His comments prompted a few boos in the audience and one crowd member loudly said: “What a dick”.
Someone somewhere is bound to have a te reo insult to bestow on him – or gift – instead of dick.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE.
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