Many English names have long-established Māori forms, most dating from the 1800s when names were adapted to the sounds of te reo Māori, often through the Māori Bible. Here are some of the best known, each linked to its New Zealand popularity page.
How these names were formed
Te reo Māori has no letters such as j, s, b or l, so names were reshaped to fit its sounds. James became Hēmi, Sarah became Hera and Elijah became Iraia.
Forms can vary between iwi and regions. This list covers widely used forms only, and some English names, such as Liam or Olivia, have no traditional Māori form.
About this data: figures come from Department of Internal Affairs birth registrations for 1954-2025. The DIA only publishes a name for a given year when at least 10 babies were registered with it, so rarer names - and rarer spellings - are missing entirely, and a name can drop out of the record in quieter years. Spelling variants are counted separately, and counts reflect first names as registered.