The South Island's Maori name Te Waipounamu refers to the greenstone rock found there. Photo / Greg Bowker
Kiwis have offered up a range of alternative names for the North and South islands - some serious and some not so serious.
The Geographic Board is publicly consulting on proposals to assign official alternative names to the two islands - Te Ika a Maui for the North
and Te Waipounamu for the South.
On Twitter, Kiwis shared other alternative names for the our two largest islands, using the hashtag #nzislands.
The Listener's Toby Manhire had some of the sharpest suggestions, including "Cribs and Baches" and "Warner Bros' Original Mordor" and "Sky City Presents Hobbiton".
Seven Sharp's Jesse Mulligan pitched in with "Big Ted and Little Ted", while fellow comedian Guy Williams suggested we call both islands the South Island "just to screw with people".
