Kiwi (nickname)

[4] The bird first came to European attention in 1811 when a skin ended up in the hands of a British Museum zoologist, George Shaw, who classified it as a type of penguin and portrayed it as standing upright.

[5][6] After early sightings by Europeans the kiwi was regarded as a curiosity; in 1835 the missionary William Yate described it as "the most remarkable and curious bird in New Zealand".

For example, in a 1904 New Zealand Free Lance cartoon a plucky kiwi is shown growing to a moa after a rugby victory of 9–3 over a British team.

[4] In the early-20th century, New Zealanders, especially soldiers and All Blacks players, were referred to internationally as "En Zed(der)s"[4] (derived from the initials of the country's name, N.Z.)

At Sling Camp, near Bulford on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, New Zealand soldiers carved a chalk kiwi into the nearby hill in early 1919.

[24] Kiwi is not generally considered to be a derogatory term, however there are New Zealanders, particularly some with Māori heritage, that find the appellation jarring and prefer not to identify with it.

[25] In 2018, a South Australian employment tribunal ruled that the nickname was not discriminatory, after a New Zealander unsuccessfully argued that she was a victim of racial discrimination after being labelled a "Kiwi".

In August 2022, Minister of Immigration Michael Wood referred to 85,000 holders of recently approved New Zealand 2021 resident visas as "new Kiwis".