It is not known when Māori began incorporating the name into their
oral lore. Beginning in 1845,
George Grey,
Governor of New Zealand, spent some years amassing information from Māori regarding their legends and histories. He translated it into English, and in 1855 published a book called
Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race. In a reference to
Māui, the
culture hero, Grey's translation from the Māori reads as follows: 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 ==