This refers to the cloud formations which are believed to have helped early Polynesian navigators find the country in Māori oral tradition.

New Zealand English speakers pronounce the word with various degrees of approximation to the original Māori pronunciation, from /ˌɑːəteɪəˈrɔːə/ [ˌɐːɘtæeɘˈɹoːɘ] at one end of the spectrum (nativist) to /ˌeɪətiːəˈroʊə/ [ˌæeɘtiːɘˈɹɐʉɘ] at the other.

Beginning in 1845, George Grey, Governor of New Zealand, spent some years amassing information from Māori regarding their legends and histories.

He translated it into English, and in 1855 published a book called Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race.

As late as the 1890s the name was used in reference to the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) only; an example of this usage appeared in the first issue of Huia Tangata Kotahi, a Māori-language newspaper published on 8 February 1893.

[6] Additionally, William Pember Reeves used Aotearoa to mean New Zealand in his history of the country published in 1898, The Long White Cloud Ao-tea-roa.

[23] A petition initiated by Danny Tahau Jobe for a referendum on whether the official name of New Zealand should change to include Aotearoa,[27] received 6,310 signatures.

Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi argued that the proposed name change would recognise New Zealand's indigenous heritage and strengthen its identity as a Pacific country.

National Party leader Christopher Luxon stated that renaming New Zealand was a constitutional issue that would require a referendum.

Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson expressed concerns that a potential name change would create branding issues for the country's tourism industry.