Kerry Butler: Should Our Country be Named Aotearoa?
There has been a movement in recent times to push a name change for our country to “Aotearoa” by way of creeping normalcy. This subversive agenda is brazenly orchestrated by ideologically biased media ... especially via News presenters.
Before this woke crusade is allowed to go too far, people need to be enlightened as to all aspects of a name change, especially considering what is at stake, i.e. the financial cost as regards our hard-earned Internationally recognised "NZ" marketing brand.
There should also be consideration for our soldiers who died fighting in two World Wars - 30,000 of whom are interred in overseas countries, where their gravestones are proudly inscribed with the name of their homeland as being "New Zealand".
Of course, to counter these aspects, it will be argued that the New Zealand name will always remain combined with Aotearoa. Rubbish. We already see and hear numerous examples of where it is not.
Of real significance is that despite what has been our country’s name under various spellings since 1643 (which is quite a stretch of history) the desire to now change it to Aotearoa is based solely on the belief that it’s the original Māori name. But the truth is, Māori had no name for the country as a whole. The North Island was Te Ika ā Māui and the South Island, Te Waka ā Māui.
It is said that the word Aotearoa described white cloud. And “Aotea” was used by some to name the North Island. Although, the area now known as the King Country was referred to as Aotearoa during the 1870’s.
In 1890 the author, William Reeves popularized the usage of "Aotearoa" to describe the entirety of New Zealand through romanticized literary narratives rather than traditional precedent.
The first Māori dictionary, published in 1844, had no entry for Aotearoa. And the Te Reo Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840 makes no mention of it.
In 1835 when chiefs were establishing the Declaration of Independence (which failed due to inter-tribal fighting) they didn’t know what name to give their country, so called it Nu Tireni which expressed their pronunciation of the English wording for “New Zealand”. Nu Tireni was also used for New Zealand in the te reo version of the Treaty.
This not only proves that Aotearoa was never the traditionally accepted name, but also that Maori were happy with the name New Zealand. So much so, they made up Te Reo words to match it.
Kerry Butler is rated an amateur historian who specialises in exposing the truth to prevent losing control of our country. This article was first published at Breaking Views.
Aotearoa could sell our skills managing name changes.
Help Europe get rid of boring old names like Paris, London, Rome, France, Germany.
And just think of the increase in productivity!
The name Aotearoa makes me feel ill every time I hear it. The one consolation is that, in my view, the people who use it are mostly revealing themselves as lefties, and I think it says more about the person's politics than about the country.
George Grey’s book “Ko nga moteatea, me nga hakirara o nga Maori.” (The traditional chants and ditties of the Māori.) was published in 1853. It describes “ Nga puna í Aotearoa ko mai kì to kiri” (The springs of Aotearoa are upon your skin) so the word was well known by then.
Kerry claims there a movement in recent times to push a name change for our country to “Aotearoa”. Where and when was this movement? Perhaps Kerry is referring to the Māori Party’s petition to change the country's official name to Aotearoa 5 years ago. Most likely the country will be renamed Aotearoa New Zealand representative of the language of both parties involved in the founding document of New Zealand.
As long as I can draw breath I will NEVER call NEW ZEALAND, outa-row-a.
Any person or organisation or thing that has outa-row-a in a name or spoken or written on it, I totally ignore. END OF.
I will never buy anything that has Aotearoa printed on it, branded or advertised. Any tradesmen using it miss out on any work. it seems we much legislate English, What is a Woman and now New Zealand. - sick of the virtual signalling wannabes