QUAINT MAORI NAMES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 136, 9 June 1906, Page 6

QUAINT MAORI NAMES.

- STRANGE CHRISTENINGS. Though the importation of liquor iufco the King Country is forbidden, tho district is teeming with ."rum" and " brandy." Thesa lively beverages } stalk around the landscape in broad day- 1 light, and are not confiscated. Yet this j statement need not alarm good people who want the -Maoris to bs a sober race. ' "Rum" (Rama) and "Brandy" (Parani) ■ -are merely " tots " of humanity," the names of children, " reincarnations" -of i bottles perhaps held in high esteem by i the parents. I In visiting various Maori districts, j says the inspector of native schools, uny one with" a knowledge of the meaning of Maori words is very often struck with the quaint names given by Maoris to j children. According to an account ren- , dered to la Post reporter, the Maoris love to commemorate crises in their family, history by inflicting a perpetual re.fliindcr on their offspring. Things that have delighted them, frightened them, thrilled them, chilled them, are honoured for ever in the titles bestowed on the rising generation. If a man is ill and sends a "wire" to friends for medical assistance, this constitutes an event that must not be forgotten. Therefore the next child to urrive has to rejoice or sorrow 111 the. appelation of Ngawaea (" Wire "). Perhaps a man is so afflicted that, l>s has to be removed to a. hospital, and in that case the institution is immortalised in Hohipeta (hospital) inflicted on a son or daughter. A leading Maori of th» Hawkes Bay district lately underwent an operation for appendicitis. Soon , afterwards he became the proud fathei ' of a child termed Oparaitiono (Opera ! tion). One of the natives who took- a prominent part in the so-ciilled rebellion at Waima in 1895 was apparsntiy great!} impressed by the sentence of "two years' i hard labour " that was nwted out to ' cool his ardour. Some time afterwards v ■ son was born to him, and the boy wa» made to face- life with th« veiy forceful name of Han Rewa (Hard Labour). There was once a disaster at Motu; six- ' teen children were drowned. Lest the sad tally -should be forgotten, the brother of on© of the victims was called Tekau _fila Ono (Sixteen). Various odd happenings are chronipled in a name. A child born late one night has- to make his way in the cold world under the handicap of Tureti (Too Late). Another's designation proclaims the hour ' of his birth, Tuakaraka (Two o' Clock). I The praenomen of another lictle fellow, | Tutuane (Two-to-One) opens up a wide field of -speculation. Piemiers (Piriinia) aro plentiful, and there is a Duke of Fork (Tnika) at Tauranga. A youngster who, it, is alleged, "fingered" a packet ( of cigarettes in a store, has to go down i ■to posterity as Hikareti (Cigarettes), a confirmed devotee to tobacco, whether ho , smokes Or not , . j ■ "One of the most amusing names came I nnder the inspector's notice in the Urewera. Country. The little natives had mustered in brave array for an examination, and among" the proudest was a little chap half buried in his lather's trousers. Strangely this hero's name, was ' Tarau (brief for Trousers), suggesting that j ". his. first swaddling clothes were fur- } nished by a pair of his father's nethei ' garments. \ Even food is glorified by the transfer of its name to fresh morsels of humant kind. Braving the rain there are Hukas" * "(Sug'arsJV there "are" sweet girls dubbed Winika (Vinecar). there is Ti (Tea), Miraki (Milk), Paraoa (Flour), Arani . (Orange). One of the weirdest names in "this category i-s Te O Waina (practically '. . Provisions for a Journey). Of course, , medicine- is not neglected, at Penekiri ~ (Painkiller) shows. _ ■ • Thomrh these names are mostly Maori - pronunciations of English Wrds, their 'form', is sufficiently modified to deceive the unwary pakehu. A fond mother,, if she is not careful, may christen a gentle- - tempered baby girl with the pretty name of Winika "(Vinegar). A tiny dot, destined to preach temperance to the natives, may be weighted with Rama, (Rum). The Maoris aro still fond of <*iving Biblical names to their children. Jeremiah (Heremaia) and David (Rawiti) are . popular. There is a native Jeremiah working at the Museum at the present - time.