The possibility of naming a newborn pēpe after one of the nine stars of Matariki never seriously occurred to Hastings couple Travis and Sarah as their latest 4.2kg bundle of joy arrived at 2.10am on its first public holiday.
They'd already sorted a name, subject to confirmation on the day. And as it was, they never expected 55cm-long Taika (the tiger) James Harris to be a Matariki baby. He was a few weeks late.
Taika is a new name on the family tree, but James is his dad's brother's name. The new arrival is the couple's second child, a brother for 21-month-old Heeni, named after her nanny.
It wasn't unnatural to be asking questions about the future pathway for a Matariki baby, all the proud mum could think of being that with a bit of height to begin with, and with his Ngapuhi dad and Unison Networks employee having a Maori All Black, Hurricanes and Hawke's Bay Magpies cousin there might be a bit of rugby in the genes.
While Heeni had been born at Hawke's Bay Hospital, the couple decided to have Taika at home, with community midwife Sarah Nation, of Napier, doing the honours as she had done with Heeni back in September 2020.
