People of NZ, should it be called Wanganui or Whanganui?

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!!Red!!

Whanganui, because that's the name i grew up knowing.

EDIT:[edit] The name
WhÄngÄ nui means big bay or big harbour. Europeans called it Petre (pronounced Peter), after Lord Petre, an officer of the New Zealand Company, but the name did not persist.

Wanganui or Whanganui?
In the local accent, MÄori say wh as w followed by a glottal stop, and the name as something like "W'anganui", hard to reproduce by non-locals. Until recently it was generally written as "Wanganui" and pronounced with a w by non-speakers of MÄori and a wh by those MÄori speakers from other areas who knew its derivation.

Following an article about the river by David Young in the New Zealand Geographic magazine that used "Whanganui" throughout, in accord with the wishes of the local iwi, the spelling of the river's name reverted to Whanganui in 1991. The region's name is now sometimes also spelt "Whanganui", but the city has kept the spelling "Wanganui".

As a result, many people from outside the area now take pains to pronounce the river and the region as "Whanganui" and the city as "Wanganui", though the variant spellings do not reflect any difference in the underlying name.

A non-binding referendum was held in 2006, where 82 percent voted for Wanganui without an 'h'.

it's already confusing!

atlantisflicka

Wanganui.

Local Maori do not pronouce Wh as an F sound but as a W so why change it when it would not change the way you say it just cause confusion.

Stephanie H

I sort of think Whanganui. Because im pretty sure i heard somewhere that 'Wanganui' has no Maori meaning, but with a simple 'h' in it, gives it a Maori meaning. Thats just my opinion though

Driver T

What's it matter.
Local Maori pronounce it both ways.
A vocal (very vocal) group led by a professional protester, Ken Mair, is making a lot of noise. In the past they have got the results they wanted according to the amount of noise they made.
They want it their way regardless of what other Maori iwi or whanau may regard as right.

Bear in mind, that in the Domesday Book, the town of Chideock, in Dorset, England, is mentioned 27 times with 8 different spellings.
Times change, spellings evolve, pronunciation gets altered from one generation to the next.

Dangerous

Wanganui.

Whanganui sounds too much like Whangarei. Wanganui suffers enough without having to suffer that on top! ;)

BRIAN FRANCIS H

Leave it as it is.

Dorklander

Wanga vegas!

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