Trentham's Name Change

Michael from Trentham

Like so much of the British past, like since the 1830s when it comes to NZ, names of important almost everything have been immortalised with British names and led occasionally in this regard by church members.

So one of the staunch suburbs of Upper Hutt. was named Trentham.

Now there is this growing surge to rename places with their original names vis Maori descriptive names. So out of their box of tricks, a group of church goers suddenly stepped in to squash any Marori- ness and renamed Trentham, Trantham. New but not too new; different but not too different; trendy but not too trendy - though "taking a train to Trantham" has a certain ring to it.

Those who want the suburb reglued to its Marori name will be disappointed at this cleverness . Trantham has already received a lot of publicity and almost no opposition.

The Maori name for the Trantham area is Ma-Wai-Hakona. It may now never be bestowed as Ma Wai Hakona/Mawai Hakona.