#new-zealand-naming-laws

#new-zealand-naming-laws

The latest figures show 58% of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds have registered for the Maori roll, up from 50% in 2023. This increase follows years of tense relations between Indigenous New Zealanders and the centre-right coalition government.

King, however, has reigned supreme on the country's banned baby name list for the past 16 years (other than one blip: being ousted by Prince in 2023). In fact, multiple rejected names last year were related to royalty (Prince, Princess, Queen and Sovereign among others). Others were nixed for relating to cannabis (Indica, Indika and Sativa).

This golden strip of sand, fringed by turquoise waters, is part of the popular Abel Tasman National Park on Tasman Bay (also known as Te Tai-o-Aorere) at the top of the South Island. Awaroa Beach is nothing if not beloved. So much so that in 2016, almost 40,000 Kiwis banded together to buy the beach from a private entity for more than $2 million and donated it to New Zealand's Department of Conservation.

On an empty beach at the bottom of the world, the waves that roll over the sand are midnight blue and lit by the stars and a waxing moon. I'm only vaguely familiar with the constellations that hang above Great Barrier Island, known for centuries to the Māori as Aotea, some 56 nautical miles northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. I'm not all that used to seeing them so clearly,

Classic and once-popular baby names are falling out of favor, with some at risk of disappearing entirely. A new report from BabyCenter, which tracks the names parents consider and choose for their newborns, analyzed the top 1,000 names to identify which have seen the steepest declines since 2024. Among girls, Charleigh, Mckinley, Prisha, Ezra, Sasha, Mía, Kenna, Kori, Dior and Shaikha are all slipping down the rankings, with Charleigh and Shaikha taking the hardest hits.

British dual nationals living abroad have told of their disgust, fury and distress over new UK border rules that mean they could risk be denied boarding on a flight, ferry or train. The new rules, which come into force on 25 February, have caught many by surprise and require British dual nationals to present a British passport or a certificate of entitlement, which costs 589, to visit the UK on their non-British passport.

I spent six weeks traveling solo across New Zealand from Auckland down to Queenstown. Despite being a seasoned traveler, I still made mistakes like staying in the wrong city too long. I should've booked fewer excursions and looked up where to sit for better views on my bus routes. Even after traveling the world solo for 10 years, I still make mistakes when visiting new destinations.