Tai Tapu Place Name Report
The report considered by the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) at its meeting on 27 March 2009.
- Tai Tapu (spelling alteration)
Tai Tapu (locality/settlement)
South of Christchurch, near Lincoln
General Background
The submitter is the Selwyn District Council who are seeking to alter the format of the locality name of Taitapu to Tai Tapu, i.e. from a composite one word to two words. Taitapu is a recorded name and has been in long term usage by the community, alongside Tai Tapu. The Council advises that its records depict/store the name as two words. The Council has undertaken consultation with local iwi and the Tai Tapu Community Association, both confirming that they have no objection to the name being officially recognised as two words. The Council mentions the need for compatibility with NZ Post for bulk mail and Transit NZ signage, however, in July 2002 the Council resolved to accept the usage of the format as one word, i.e. Taitapu. But then in August 2002, the Council reconsidered its earlier decision and resolved that the format should be two words, i.e. Tai Tapu, based on local resident support and common historical usage.
Archive records of the Board reveal that in 1958/59, the Secretary and Chairman of the Board concluded that the format of Taitapu should remain as one word, which was consistent with the then Board’s general principle of showing compound Māori names as one word. The Board’s card index found that Taitapu is recorded as one word, although it has been shown as both one and two words in various other records. The Board’s archives contain correspondence discussing one and two word forms of the name. The decision made in 1959 was that it wasn’t necessary to obtain a Board ruling as the Chief Cartographer had followed the principle adopted by the Board and the Department, whereby compound Māori names are to be shown as one word. It is noted, however, that the Chief Surveyor of the time, earlier claimed that to change from two words to one word was not a minor change and he requested that the Board formally consider the name in question. But this never happened.
This spelling format has therefore remained as one word to the present day on official maps and in electronic databases.
A W Reed’s Dictionary of Māori Place Names shows ‘Tai-Tapu’, with a hyphen, and describes it as “an obsolete word for boundary. Literally tai: tide or coast; tapu: sacred.” The submitter indicates that the name means sacred tides. The Board’s card index (for Canterbury) records the meaning as sacred stream.
The current Board policy on the format of Māori place names is as follows:
“As a general rule Māori place names should be written either as one word, or as separate words, as established by usage. The Board will also consider shortening lengthy names for publication where this is thought advisable.”
The NZ Geographic Placenames Database (now archived) shows the Taitapu as a recorded name:
Henry James Fletcher’s manuscript shows only one Tai Tapu, in the Nelson area:
Duplications of Taitapu and Tai Tapu occur as follows:
| Otaitapu | Hill | East of Opotiki |
| Westhaven (Te Tai Tapu) | Marine Reserve | Crown Protected Area South west of Farewell Spit |
Published topographic and cadastral maps have shown the following:
| NZMS 1, sheet S084 | Edition 1, dated 1947 | Tai Tapu |
| NZMS 1, sheet S084 | Edition 3, dated 1957 | Tai Tapu |
| NZMS 1, sheet S084 | Edition 4, dated 1963 | Taitapu |
| NZMS 1, sheet S084 | Edition 5, dated 1968 | Taitapu |
| NZMS 177, sheet S084 | Edition 1, dated 1962 | Taitapu |
| NZMS 13, sheet CB80 | Edition 3, dated 1959 | Taitapu |
Survey plans have shown the following:
| DP 54 |
Dated 1875 | Not named |
| DP 9979 | Dated 1931 | Tai Tapu School |
| DP 18025 | Dated 1955 | Tai Tapu |
Local use of Tai Tapu:
- Tai Tapu Primary School is one of the oldest schools in Canterbury dating back to 1876
- Tai Tapu Church – see photo from 1901
- Various newspapers from Papers Past.
It appears that possibly from about the early 1960s, the name began appearing on official mapping as one word rather than two, which is consistent with the Board’s archive records.
The submitter has consulted with local iwi (Te Taumutu Rūnanga), who have advised that they have
no objection to the word separation. While no documentary evidence exists of this consultation, it is
assumed that the Selwyn District Council has undertaken this consultation as stated.
The locality is not located within a Crown Protected Area. The closest Department of Conservation reserves are Rhodes Park Recreation Reserve to the north, and Scout Hall Reserve Taitapu, at the south, but the latter is not considered a CPA by the Department of Conservation, and is not the official Gazetteer of CPA names.
Changing Taitapu to Tai Tapu should not cause confusion as both the current and proposed name are pronounced the same.
There has been some media attention in recent years on this one word/two word naming issue.
Map
For a larger scale version of this map please refer to the pdf version of the Tai Tapu place name report (pdf 1.90MB).
