Chantze Rangimarie Rohe and Te Ara Ripeka Rangihuna with their daughter Te Ara Ripeka Hineaka Rohe and baby son Te Ratu Emere Rangimarie Rohe. Photo / Supplied
Hastings couple Te Ara Ripeka Rangihuna and Chantze Rangimarie Rohe have given their surprise Christmas baby a name.
Baby Te Ratu Emere Rangimarie Rohe was due on December 22, but ended up arriving on Christmas Day giving the couple the "best Christmas present ever".
Rangihuna said choosing a name was hard as she wanted something that reflected how he came into the world and mentioned Christmas day without being a common Christmas name.
"It's like the day that stood still.
"It's supposed to be the day for presents and spending time together, and we still got a present and we still spent time together but in a different way."
"Nō te 25 o Tihema ka tū te rā Kirihimete, ka tū I te whānautanga mai o tā tātau tamaiti, o Te Ratu Emere Rangimare Rohe – on the 25th of December all plans were halted. Christmas Day also became the day for the birth of our son Te Ratu Emere Rangimarie Rohe," the couple said.
"I tū ai te Kirihimete - nāu. I rongo anō ai mātau I te aroha - nāu. You halted Christmas. we fell in love again, because of you."
The name has significant meaning to the whānau. Te Ratu is after Rangihuna's father's name but is also a play on words meaning that the day was halted (pronounced Te Rātū).
"It was going to just be Te Rā which is the day but then I thought no actually the day stood still and that's where we got Te Ratu and it's just uncanny that that was my dad's name.
"[The name] was kind of already there without us really knowing it was there," she said.
Emere is Rohe's father's name but is also similar to Mere the name of Rangihuna's sister who was present at the birth and her grandmother and was what they would have chosen if the baby was a girl.
"As we added to the name it was like this was supposed to be his name."
The article about the birth of their baby prompted hundreds of people to offer name suggestions in the comments or messages to the couple, which the couple never expected.
"That was really cool and there were some cool names in there which we came across.
" We just want to say thank you to everyone for their suggestions."
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