Find Names

The names of New Zealand places and features, such as mountains and rivers, as well as settlements and localities, reflect the culture and shared heritage of New Zealanders.

Knowing the correct names for places and their location is important for people in all manner of everyday communications and activities, for businesses and their transactions, and for emergency services in responding to incidents. Get help finding names.

New Zealand Gazetteer of Official Geographic Names

View and download the New Zealand Gazetteer of Official Geographic Names (the Gazetteer), a publication of the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB). The Gazetteer is the official list of names for New Zealand features, places, offshore islands, Crown protected areas, as well as undersea and Antarctic names. more...

Find official names with macrons

Discover which official names have macrons - for example, Waimangō Point - and when to use them. more…

Find Antarctic names

Learn about the various international databases of Antarctic place names, including names assigned by different countries. more…

Find undersea feature names

Explore international databases of undersea feature names, including names assigned by different countries. more...

Māori names

Read about the use of Māori place names today, tips for researchers and how to find out more about the origins of Māori place names. more...

New Zealand Place Names Database (archived)

(Previously known as New Zealand Geographic Place Names database.) You can search the database or download a dataset of names appearing on topographic maps. more...

Help finding names

Determine which resource will provide the information you are looking for, and how to obtain archived documents. more...