Placenames in New Zealand derive largely from the British and Maori origins of the people who speak the two official languages.

• Auckland - in honour of George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, a patron of William Hobson
• Canterbury - after the city and archdiocese of Canterbury in England
• Dunedin - from the original Scots Gaelic name for Edinburgh
• Hauraki Gulf - Hauraki is Maori for Northern wind
• Hawke's Bay - in honour of Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke of Towton
• Kerikeri- not definitively known, but several possibilities discussed here.
• King Country - So called due to the resistance put up by Maori against the British, in support of the Maori King, King Tawhiao. A number of land wars were fought here in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the British invaded the Waikato in July 1863, with the last major battle ending at Orakau in 1864.
• Levin - from a director of the railway company that created the town to help boost its railway
• Nelson - in honour of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
• Otago - Anglicised from the Maori name Otakou, a kainga east of present-day Otago Harbour, translated either as "isolated village" or "place of red earth".
• Plimmerton - from John Plimmer, Wellington pioneer, director of the railway company that created the seaside resort to help boost its railway; central Wellington has Plimmer's Steps.
• Tasman - district named from the bay name, in honour of Dutchman Abel Tasman, commander of first European ship to sight the country; also a mountain and glacier name; and a national park takes his full name.
• Waikato- Named after the Waikato River, which itself means flowing water
• Wellington - in honour of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington