New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

before the 1800s,

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

children would be called by one

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

(simple or composite). These names were attributed to remarkable events around birth. Later in life a person might be given a new name relating to subsequent events.

Pre-contact

Individuals often had a single name, and took on new names in order to mark changes in their lives. Name changes were done so to maintain collective memory in an

oral culture Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985), reporte ...

1800–1900

With the arrival of Europeans, surnames were introduced and soon after a Māori

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

system was devised where a person would take their father's name as a surname, for example: :Ariki – Maunga Ariki – Waiora Maunga – Te Awa Waiora – Waipapa Te Awa Māori would also have translations of their names, for example: :John Te Awa – Hone River – John River – Hone Waipapa Te Awa – John Waipapa Te Awa – Hone Waipapa – John Waipapa

20th century

Children born after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

were often given first names that reflected prominent battle sites during the war to commemorate the Māori generation that had not survived. Examples of such names included: Tunis, Alamein, Medenine, Faenza and Cassino.

21st century

Māori names made up 1.6% of all registered names in 2011, with that number rising to 2.6% registered in 2020. The criteria in order to be recognized as such was that the name must match the Māori Language Commission orthography, at least one parent must be Māori, and at least 10 children are born with that name. The names Nikau and Mia were the most popular names in 2020.

References

Naming customs Maori {{Maori-stub