It is the second-most popular ice cream flavour behind vanilla in New Zealand,[6] and is a frequently cited example of Kiwiana.

The origin of this term, in reference to honeycomb specifically, is not known with certainty, and it is not until the mid-20th century that hokey pokey ice cream was created.

The vendors, said to be mostly of Italian descent, supposedly used a sales pitch or song involving the phrase "hokey pokey", for which several origins have been suggested.

One such song in use in 1930s Liverpool was "Hokey pokey penny a lump, that's the stuff to make ye jump".

According to "The Encyclopedia of Food" (published 1923, New York) hokey pokey (in the U.S.) is "a term applied to mixed colors and flavors of ice cream in cake form".