Aotearoa
thumb|left|[[Elsdon Best and Stephenson Percy Smith of the Polynesian Society, who did much to popularise the use of Aotearoa in Edwardian school books, pictured in 1908]]
The use of Aotearoa to refer to the whole country is a post-colonial custom. Before the period of contact with Europeans, Māori did not have a commonly used name for the entire New Zealand archipelago. As late as the 1890s the name was used in reference to the North Island () only; an example of this usage appeared in the first issue of Huia Tangata Kotahi, a Māori-language newspaper published on 8 February 1893. It contained the dedication on the front page, "", meaning "This is a publication for the Māori tribes of the North Island and the South Island".
After the adoption of the name New Zealand (anglicised from Nova Zeelandia) by Europeans, one name used by Māori to denote the country as a whole was , a respelling of New Zealand derived from an approximate pronunciation.
The expanded meaning of Aotearoa among Pākehā became commonplace in the late 19th century. Aotearoa was used for the name of New Zealand in the 1878 translation of "God Defend New Zealand", by Judge Thomas Henry Smith of the Native Land Court—this translation is widely used today when the anthem is sung in Māori.
The New Zealand province of the Anglican Church is divided into three cultural streams or (Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia), with the Aotearoa covering Māori-speaking congregations within New Zealand.
In 2015, to celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week), the Black Caps (the New Zealand national cricket team) played under the name Aotearoa for their first match against Zimbabwe.
Music
- Aotearoa is an overture composed in 1940 by Douglas Lilburn.
- The Land of the Long White Cloud, subtitled Aotearoa, is a piece composed in 1979 by Philip Sparke for brass band or wind band.
- "Aotearoa" is the Māori version of "God Defend New Zealand", a national anthem of New Zealand.
- Split Enz refers to Aotearoa in its 1982 song "Six Months in a Leaky Boat".
Proposals for official use
A 2019 petition initiated by Danny Tahau Jobe for a referendum on whether the official name of New Zealand should change to include Aotearoa received 6,310 signatures.
In September 2021, Te Pāti Māori started a petition to change the name of New Zealand to Aotearoa. The petition received 50,000 signatures in two days, and over 70,000 by early June 2022. On 2 June, the petition was submitted to Parliament's Petitions Committee. Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi argued that the proposed name change would recognise New Zealand's indigenous heritage and strengthen its identity as a Pacific country. Waititi objected to the idea of a referendum, claiming it would entrench the "tyranny of the majority". National Party leader Christopher Luxon stated that renaming New Zealand was a constitutional issue that would require a referendum. Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson expressed concerns that a potential name change would create branding issues for the country's tourism industry.
A 1News–Colmar Brunton poll in September 2021 found that 58% of respondents wanted to keep the name New Zealand, 9% wanted to change the name to Aotearoa, and 31% wanted the joint name of Aotearoa New Zealand. A January 2023 Newshub-Reid Research poll showed a slight increase in support for the name Aotearoa, with 36.2% wanting Aotearoa New Zealand, 9.6% Aotearoa only, and 52% wanting to keep New Zealand only.
See also
- List of New Zealand place name etymologies
- New Zealand place names