A baby girl named Zealand-New was born in New Zealand on 11 January 2009 to parents Tomicina Davoren and Mana Te Moni.
Zealand-New’s name was created by her grandmother Sharron, who said in an interview that she “was fiddling around and it was something different to say it back to front.”
Zealand-New’s three middle names are Sharron, Phyllis and Atareta. She has three older siblings named Rlexuz Toara Chantz, Mikaere Morgan and Korizma-Lake Vonnita Manaaki.
(Regarding the Maori names: Toara might be based on the biblical place-name Zoar, Mikaere is a version of Michael, and Manaaki means “caring.” I’m not sure what the definition of Atareta is, though.)
Source: Baby named ‘Zealand-New’ welcomed into world
(Want to see other baby names in the news?)
One Comment
What can I say? The Kiwis have done it again. Not withstanding the slightly kitschy feel of the whole backward thing; I actually quite like the sound of Zealand-New. Personally I would have dropped the ‘New’ for a range of reasons. It’s going to sound like the punch line to a bad joke when her school friends ask her middle name (a punch line they will invariably preempt). Still, I do like ‘Zealand’. It’s kind of starting to grow on me :~)