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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

PLACE NAMES

Contents


Rules Governing Nomenclature

The New Zealand Geographic Board, which was constituted under the New Zealand Geographic Board Act of 1946, is the body responsible for nomenclature in New Zealand. Its decisions are guided by the following rules:

  1. Original names are given preference where duplication occurs.

  2. Names established by long usage may be retained in their incorrect form.

  3. Publication of a new name in any work does not necessarily establish such name.

  4. The possessive form is avoided.

  5. The use of hyphens in a name is avoided where-ever possible. This relates particularly to Maori place names where separate parts of a name are written as one name.

  6. Names in a foreign language are, wherever possible, rendered in the form adopted by the country concerned.

  7. The use of alternative names, except where both English and Maori names are in general use, is avoided.

  8. Only persons who have climbed or traversed alpine features have the right to submit names for such features.

by Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington and Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

  • The Great Harbour of Tara, Adkin, G. L. (1959)
  • Horowhenua – Its Maori Place Names and Their Background, Adkin, G. L. (1948)
  • Place Names of Banks Peninsula, Andersen, J. C. (1927)
  • Maori Place Names …, Andersen, J. C. (1942)
  • Place Names of Rotorua, Cowan, J. (1949)
  • The New Zealand Guide, Dollimore, E. S. (1962)
  • Place Names of Marlborough, Insull, H. A. H. (1952)
  • Taupo-nui-a-Tia, Bell, R. M. (1958) (a map)
  • The Taupo Road, Bell, R. M. (1959) (a map)
  • A Dictionary of Maori Place Names, Reed, A. W. (1961).