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.