NZGB Naming Rules, Criteria, Standards, Guidelines & Policies

The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) weighs the information, evidence and views on name proposals and submissions against these rules, criteria, standards, guidelines and policies.

Interim Standards for Place Names

When the NZGB considers proposals to assign, amend, approve, alter or discontinue official names, it does so in accordance with the criteria specified in the following interim standards:

• Interim standard for undersea feature names NZGBS60000
• Interim standard for Crown protected area names NZGBS60001

Interim standards for other areas of naming (New Zealand terrestrial names and Antarctic names) will be published in due course. Until they are available, the frameworks document below will continue to be referred to as the NZGB's authoritative source of toponymic guidelines for those types of names.

Interim standards have been issued for expediency and to provide submitters with clarity around how their proposals will be evaluated by the NZGB. Once all of the interim standards have been published, the NZGB intends to review their content and replace them with a combined standard. The development of the combined standard will follow the LINZ standard setting process which includes public consultation. For more information contact the New Zealand Geographic Board.

Frameworks of the NZGB (pre-1 November 2008)

The NZGB compiled its statutory, policy and operational statements into the Frameworks of the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa September 2008 Version 2 (pdf 1.8MB), which applied to the New Zealand Geographic Board Act 1946 (repealed).

Note: The standards and guidelines within this document evolved over the NZGB's long history and had been modified to reflect modern developments and trends. Policies and practices will continue under the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008.

Protocol for Māori Place Names (pre-1 November 2008)

• Protocol for Māori Place Names (pdf 172KB) - as developed under the New Zealand Geographic Board Act 1946 (repealed).