The Daily Show host delivers another reason that Aotearoa is a better name than New Zealand. 

One more powerful reason for our nation to shed its official name came from an unexpected place at the weekend – The Daily Show. 

A petition presented by Te Pāti Māori to change the name from New Zealand to Aotearoa was publicly supported by the US political news show’s host Trevor Noah, with the clip reposted on its Instagram page. 

“New Zealand may be getting a new name,” said Noah. “Māori politicians have launched a campaign to restore one of the country’s original names, Aotearoa.”

Viewed over two million times, with more than 90,000 likes, the post on The Daily Show’s Instagram page marks the biggest endorsement the petition has received – even if the proposed name was incorrectly captioned as “Al Tieroa”. 

The Daily Show is renowned for its comedic take on political news, with Noah often turning to Aotearoa for stories. Last year he spoke about the Christchurch Wizard losing his salary, as well as the infamous KFC heist during the delta lockdown.

It’s not surprising Noah would highlight the petition. He has spoken, and written, at length about his upbringing in South Africa as well as the realities of being a person of colour in the American media system. 

His reasoning for backing the Te Pāti Māori petition was fairly flawless. “I think we can all be honest, they didn’t put a lot of thought into naming it ‘New Zealand’ in the first place,” Noah said. “Colonisers were so lazy, ‘This is New Zealand, this is New England, this is New York.’ Zero effort.”

America itself was built off the dispossession of Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples, and was given its name by an Italian mapmaker in the 16th century. Another colonial outpost of European imperialism, New Zealand, built off the dispossession of Māori, was “given the name New Zealand” by a Dutch mapmaker in 1643, after a Dutch province, Zeeland, meaning sea-land. 

The petition Noah referred to was delivered by the Te Pāti Māori to parliament in June, with more than 70,000 signatures supporting the call for the recognition of Aotearoa as the official name of New Zealand. Te Pāti Māori expressed the desire to see the original te reo Māori names for all towns, cities and places around the country be restored nationwide by 2026. 

The name Aotearoa is said to derive from the moment about 1000 years ago when renowned celestial navigator Kupe, with his wife Kuramārotini, pronounced “Aotearoa” upon sighting the “long white cloud” which indicated a land-mass. 

The North Island had already been named Te Ika ā Māui by legendary Polynesian explorer Māui, whose arrival predates all others in historical Māori narratives. The South Island is known by southern Māori tribes Ngāi Tahu as Te Waipounamu. 

The short clip by The Daily Show is going viral on Māori social media and has been re-shared by Māori artist Hōhepa Thompson (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Toa Rangatira and Ngāi Tahu). Under the artist pseudonym Hori or The Hori, Thompson has been raising awareness around the country through an initiative called “This is Aotearoa”. 

Thompson has been campaigning to expose the irrelevance of the name New Zealand. “We are not changing anything,” says Thompson.  “We are only reinstating the original ingoa.” 

Travelling 3000km around Te Ika a Māui before touring Te Waipounamu all the way to Rakiura in the deep South, Thompson visited various townships to share his message all the while towing a billboard that asserted the name Aotearoa. 

“I think many Māori and tangata tiriti in Aotearoa are very forward thinking, but we do have those rednecks out there who can’t see the forest for the trees. This is not wokeism! We should all be bold enough to take steps to correct our colonial past,” says Thompson.

“It’s about acknowledging not only the name Aotearoa but all our Māori histories and knowledge systems and the way we pass this knowledge down.”

The third stage of his journey saw him heading overseas at the end of July, metaphorically returning the name New Zealand to where it came from. He nailed a placard with the name New Zealand to a jetty in Zeeland, Netherlands. 

“This initiative is to keep this conversation going — for me it’s a way to set precedence for eventually all our names to be reinstated but also for all indigenous and native people to work from. We as Māori are leaders in this space so we must continue to lead the korero.”