Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave her daughter the middle name Te Aroha in 2018 to reflect the love and support she received during her pregnancy, particularly from iwi who gifted her names. It also honoured Mt Te Aroha in Waikato, near where she grew up.<\/p>\n
Such care matters because M\u0101ori naming practices are often tied to family history, t\u016bpuna, whenua, significant events (such as World War II), and may even change across a lifetime to mark achievements.<\/p>\n
So choosing a name in te reo isn\u2019t always as simple as picking a word you like.<\/p>\n
What are the dos and don\u2019ts of naming?<\/p>\n
While thousands of English words have been translated into te reo M\u0101ori and could be used as names, parents should research a word\u2019s meanings, Taiuru says. <\/p>\n
About 10 years ago, he asked Huggies to remove a list of M\u0101ori baby names from its website because some were culturally offensive. He\u2019s since been building a list himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of M\u0101ori words have multiple meanings. We\u2019ve seen that through the media in recent years where people have used the brand\u2019s name [in te reo] meaning one thing, but it\u2019s also meant as something quite derogatory as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Views on particular words can vary across communities, so Taiuru recommends seeking multiple opinions and understanding the history of your local area. Cultural consultants can also provide advice. Many M\u0101ori names are gender-neutral.<\/p>\n
Parents from religions with texts officially translated into te reo M\u0101ori may consider names from those texts, Taiuru says. Be aware that some common M\u0101ori names are shortened forms of deities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncreasingly we learn about names like Papat\u016b\u0101nuku and Ranginui and T\u0101ne Mahuta. Yes, they\u2019re names, but people should be aware that they\u2019re actually names of M\u0101ori deities, so they\u2019re religious names and it\u2019s highly offensive if you use those names. Most M\u0101ori people would not use those names either.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also inappropriate to use other people\u2019s family names, marae names, iwi or hap\u016b names, or geographic place names, because these are sacred to wh\u0101nau, hap\u016b, marae and iwi, Taiuru says.<\/p>\n
What are the most common names in te reo M\u0101ori?<\/p>\n
Recent Internal Affairs data shows Maia\/M\u0101ia\/Te M\u0101ia is the most popular name for k\u014dtiro (girls), while Ariki\/ \u0100riki\/ Te Ariki\/ te Ariki\/ TeAriki\/ Te-Ariki remains the top name for tama (boys).<\/p>\n
Rounding out the top five names for k\u014dtiro are:<\/p>\n
Aroha\/ Te Aroha\/ Te-Aroha\/ TeArohaMoana\/ Te MoanaAnahera\/ Te AnaheraAtarangi\/ Te Atarangi\/ Te Ataarangi\/ Te-Atarangi\/ Te At\u0101rangi<\/p>\n
For tama:<\/p>\n
KoaWiremuKahurangi\/ Te KahurangiKiwa<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m not M\u0101ori \u2014 is it okay?<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s no overall consensus, Taiuru\u2019s view is that \u201cnobody owns culture\u201d, and as long as people are respectful, considerate and not appropriating, using a M\u0101ori name is fine. He likens it to the many people he\u2019s met from various walks of life who want to show their appreciation by getting a kirituhi M\u0101ori tattoo design.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe M\u0101ori language is an official language of New Zealand. A lot of us fought to have it normalised and we\u2019re still fighting to normalise it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess that for many of us who were part of that movement, we celebrate the fact that non-M\u0101ori want to use M\u0101ori names when they\u2019ve been chosen appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do I need to worry about mispronunciation?<\/p>\n
Taiuru spent nearly two decades being called by his English second name before insisting people use Karaitiana. When he had children, he honoured his whakapapa by giving them M\u0101ori names.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy transition [to ask people to say Karaitiana]. There\u2019s still a bit of stigma now. I\u2019ve seen it with my own children as well, who all have M\u0101ori names, multiple syllables.\u201d<\/p>\n
Te Herenga Waka\/Victoria University of Wellington kaupapa M\u0101ori researcher Awanui Te Huia told RNZ\u2019s Afternoons that the popularity of M\u0101ori names reflects a \u201csymbolic shift towards biculturalism\u201d.<\/p>\n
She notes that popular names tend to have two or three syllables, unlike many whakapapa names with five or six. \u201cIt\u2019s still about how palatable the M\u0101ori name is to general society.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve already named my child \u2014 what now?<\/p>\n
Parents who gift a M\u0101ori name \u2014 especially of their own accord \u2014 have a responsibility to manaaki their child to ensure they can \u201ccarry\u201d the name, Te Huia says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s a whakapapa name or a noun, does that child have a community that\u2019s going to be embracing of that type of name? Does that child have an understanding of the historical context in which that name was born from? And can they understand that this is a privilege to have a M\u0101ori name in the context of colonialism?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that there\u2019s still a lot of historical trauma that exists with M\u0101ori taking on M\u0101ori names. So we do need to have those conversations about what has happened in the past so that those harms aren\u2019t glossed over.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave her daughter the middle name Te Aroha in 2018 to reflect the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8212,198,141931,156,141930,2720,13617,111,139,69,6306],"class_list":["post-536125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-anyone","tag-can","tag-emhail","tag-entertainment","tag-israa","tag-mori","tag-name","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-use"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}