Placenames in New Zealand derive largely from British and Māori origins.
Many of the locations in the southern South Island of New Zealand, especially those in Central Otago and the Maniototo, were named by John Turnbull Thomson, who had surveyed the area in the late 1850s.
There is a widespread, probably apocryphal, belief that the naming of many places was through a disagreement with the New Zealand surveying authorities.
[6] The Maniototo region around the town of Ranfurly is rife with such names as Kyeburn, Gimmerburn, Hoggetburn, and Wedderburn as a result.
The area is still occasionally referred to as "Thomson's Barnyard" or the "Farmyard Patch".