Peter Burling one of the most searched for Kiwi names: Google

America's Cup hero Peter Burling was one of the most searched for Kiwi names this year, according to new data released by Google.

Burling, from Tauranga, came in fifth behind Prime Minister Jacinda Adern, NZ First leader Winston Peters, National Party leader Bill English and All Black Jerome Kaino.

Team New Zealand star Peter Burling has been named the best foiling sailor in the world.

It has been a star-studded year for Burling who America's Cup earlier this month was named world's best foiling sailor.

He picked up the gong from Foiling Week, an organisation that holds foiling forums for innovation in the sport's biggest development area and also regattas around the world.

Burling won the award on the back of his masterful handling of Team New Zealand's foiling 50-foot catamaran that won the America's Cup in Bermuda in June and for his second placing at the Moth world championships in Italy the following month.

It came after he was named Sailor of the Year by World Sailing.

The America's Cup was the top-trending sports event and second most popular overall search, beaten only by "Lotto result NZ". "Fidget spinner" was the third top-trending search overall.

It was an excitement-packed year for New Zealand, with a new government, the America's Cup win and weather extremes making the news.

But when it came to Kiwis' Googling habits, there were more pressing things on our minds - namely, how to make slime, the colourful stretchy goop that obsessed kids across the country.

Google has released its annual "top trending" list, showing the search terms that have shown the biggest spike since last year.

Kiwis' top 'how to…?' searches for 2017 show four of the top ten trending searches related to slime recipes.

The second highest-trending 'how to' search term was "How to vote in NZ", while "how to delete Instagram accounts" also made the top-10 list.

Rather than show their ignorance, Kiwis turned to Google for their "What is" queries. "What is Black Friday 2017" topped the list, along with questions about bitcoin, kimchi, fidget spinners and botulism.

The general election led news searches for the year, with the bulk of the list made up of news about cyclones, hurricanes, fires and North Korea.

Half of 2017's top ten trending Kiwis were politicians. New Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern came out at number one, followed by Winston Peters and Bill English, interest in Ardern's partner Clarke Gayford also put him in the Top 10, while embattled MPs Metiria Turei and Todd Barclay came in 9th and 10th.

When it came to international names, American film mogul Harvey Weinstein was the top-trending search in New Zealand after multiple women accused him of sexual assault.

The year's top recipe search was for beef stroganoff, with pulled pork, lamb shanks and spaghetti bolognese also on the list. Hot cross buns and pikelets and the perennial "how to make pancakes" were also popular.

Google no longer releases lists of the top-searched terms. Instead, top-trending lists show those searches that have seen the most growth in search volume compared to the previous year.

The search engine giant has admitted in the past that the most popular, and consistent, search terms tend to be prosaic words like "weather" and a number of X-rated phrases.