Whanganui Place Name Report - Duplication, Common Usage & Examples of Other Misspelt Place Names

Duplication

Wanganui	Whanganui
Little Wanganui, locality SW Nelson	Whanganui, locality, west shore, Lake Taupo
Little Wanganui Head, SW Nelson	Whanganui Bay, west shore, Lake Taupo
Little Wanganui River, SW Nelson	Whanganui Falls, west shore, Lake Taupo
Little Wanganui Saddle, WS Nelson	Whanganui Inlet, Farewell Spit
Wanganui, classified as a town	Whanganui Inlet, Lake Waikaremoana
Wanganui East, suburb	Whanganui Island, Coromandel
Wanganui Bluff, south of Ross, Westland	Whanganui River, beside Wanganui
Wanganui Heads, south of Ross, Westland	Whanganui Stream, Cape Egmont
Wanganui River, south of Ross, Westland	Whanganui Stream, Lake Waikaremoana
	Whanganui Stream, west shore, Lake Taupo
	Whanganui Stream, Urewera
	Whanganuioparua Inlet, Lake Waikaremoana

Whanganui (locality) exits on the western shores of Lake Taupo, and being relatively close geographically to Wanganui city, would have the potential to cause some confusion.

The Board may wish to discuss the possibility of consequential name corrections for the South Island Wanganui names and also the suburb of Wanganui East.

Common usage

The submitter has provided a list of 42 organisations that use Whanganui in their name:

• DOC has the following Crown Protected Areas nearby:
  • Whanganui National Park
  • Whanganui River Scenic Reserve
• The general electorate name is Whanganui
• Early newspapers commonly used Whanganui.

Examples of other misspelt place names in New Zealand

• Petone, should be Pito One
• Hataitai, should be Whataitai
• Otago, should be Otakau
• Wyndham, should be Windham
• Gowanbridge, should be Gowenbridge
• Rewiti, changed to Reweti
• Epuni, should be Te Puni
• Carisbrook, should be Carisbrooke
• Kaiapoi, should be Kaiapohia
• Kaikorai, should be Kaikarae
• Lake Manapouri, should be Moturau
• Lake Matheson, should be Mathieson
• Mount Parahaki, changed to Mount Parihaka
• Pupu Springs vs Waikoropupu Springs
• Tinakori vs Tinakore
• Waikanae, should be Waikana.

See also the Appendix listing from The Reed Dictionary of New Zealand Place Names, entitled “Superseded Place Names, including the Original for or Current Māori Names”.

In its consideration of a proposal to change the settlement of St Arnaud to Rotoiti recently, the Board determined that one of the reasons for declining the proposal was that Rotoiti was already preserved as an original Māori name for the lake. A similar argument might be applied for this proposal.