Most want to stay with North and South

More than 70 per cent of people who replied to a Herald online poll think the North and South Islands should keep their names.

Public feedback has flooded in since the New Zealand Geographic Board revealed they were not official placenames under our legislation.

The board said it stumbled on the 200-year oversight after a member of the public proposed changing the name of the South Island to Te Wai Pounamu, the Maori alternative. The board has also suggested the North Island be changed to Te Ika a Maui.

A poll on nzherald.co.nz showed 71 per cent of people think the North and South Islands should keep their names.

Seven per cent thought the islands should adopt just the Maori names while 22 per cent thought they should officially be called both. By 8am this morning, over 9000 votes had been cast on the topic.

The debate, which has made headlines around the world, sparked outrage from some Herald readers.

A correspondent from Glen Eden wrote: "We are meant to be a visitor-friendly destination, yet we persist in trying to make life more complicated for our visitors to NZ."

A correspondent from Botany Downs wrote: "Stop wasting millions and millions of dollars on stupid, unimportant things, and spend the money where it's really needed. Helping dig NZ out of the recession might be a better idea of where the money can go."

Overseas media mocked the country for not having official names for its two biggest islands. The Times in Britain said the board had "ruined everything" by revealing the oversight in a country which was "already divided on racial issues".

Comedian Te Radar said people would call the island what they wanted even if the names were changed, but thought a change would provide more interest for tourists. "[The Maori names] are a bit more evocative that just the North and the South Island, which aren't so much placenames but a statement of geographic fact."

Te Ika a Maui translates as "fish of Maui", based on the myth that the island was formed by Maui, while Te Wai Pounamu for the South Island means "the place of greenstone".

The two names appeared on early official maps and documents.

But the islands have also been known by other names in history, according to Donald Edgar Paterson, lecturer in jurisprudence and constitutional law at Victoria University.

In the 1840s, New Zealand was divided into three provinces, Dr Edgar wrote in Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

The top of the North Island down to Patea River was New Ulster, from the river to the bottom of the South Island was New Munster and Stewart Island was New Leinster. This changed in 1952.

NAME PLAYERS

The Geographic Board

* Assigns, approves, alters or discontinues the use of names for geographic features, undersea features and Crown-protected areas in New Zealand.

* Its chairman is Don Grant and its other eight members are Sylvia Allan, Dr Sir Tipene O'Regan, Dr Wharehuia Milroy, David Barnes, Dr Kay Booth, Dr Apirana Mahuika, Professor Michael Roche and David Mole.