Photo: Ashley Cherian Abraham
From Wellington's Khandallah to Christchurch's Cashmere, New Zealand's urban centres are full of names with origins that can be traced to India.
The names assigned to streets, suburbs and geographical locations in New Zealand reflect certain aspects of society at any given time.
Not surprisingly, many of New Zealand's older streets, suburbs and geographical locations have Indian names with strong colonial connections.
The Bombay Hills that famously straddle the Auckland-Waikato border were historically home to Indian migrants who worked in local market gardens as early as the late 19th century.
The area takes its name from the English ship that brought settlers to the region in the 1960s.
The ship itself was named after the Indian city of Bombay, now known as Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra.
Khyber Pass Road, which connects Upper Symonds Street to Broadway in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket, offers another example of South Asia's influence on New Zealand.
The road is named after Khyber Pass in present-day Pakistan, a strategic corridor that historical figures such as Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan traversed to enter India.
Outside of Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula has ties to India.
The region was named after HMS Coromandel (originally HMS Malabar), a British Royal Navy ship that visited Coromandel Harbour in 1820 to procure kauri spars.
The ship's name was inspired by India's southeastern Coromandel Coast.
In 2023, Auckland Council gave two streets in South Auckland - Sukh Lane and Bhangal Lane - Indian names to reflect the sizeable Indian population in the area.
The Napier suburb of Meeanee sits on the North Island's eastern coast.
Meeanee takes its name from the province of Sindh, India (now in modern-day Pakistan), where Sir Charles Napier led British troops in the Battle of Miani in 1843.
This battle saw the British defeat Talpur Amirs of Sindh's Baloch army, commanded by Mir Nasir Khan Talpur.
The Wellington suburb of Khandallah boasts many streets that have Indian origins. Photo: DB Thats-Me
In the South Island, the Christchurch suburb of Cashmere owes its name to John Cracroft Wilson, a former British-educated civil servant in India who settled in the area.
Wilson named his estate after Kashmir, his favourite region in India.
Today, Christchurch is home to many streets with Indian-inspired names, including Bengal Drive, Cashmere Road, Chittagong Lane, Darjeeling Lane, Delhi Place and Indira Lane.
Kirwee, a town located west of Christchurch, also has a connection to India.
It was named after Karwi (now part of Chitrakoot Dham in Uttar Pradesh state) by Colonel De Renzie Brett, a retired British Army officer.
Meanwhile, Dehra Doon Road in the town of Riwaka on the doorstep of Abel Tasman National Park was named after Dehradun in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, located near the Himalayan foothills.
The name was chosen by Charles Thynne, a former British colonel who moved to New Zealand in 1860.
Surat Bay at the bottom of the South Island was named after a large immigrant ship of the same name shipwrecked near the mouth of the Catlins River on New Year's Day in 1874.
The ship was named after Surat, a prominent trading town and port in southwestern Gujarat state.
Photo: Sharon Ann Jose
Among New Zealand's three major cities, Wellington stands out for the sheer number of suburbs and streets that boasts Indian connections.
The capital features three suburbs with strong ties to India: Khandallah, Berhampore and Broadmeadows.
"The suburb of Khandallah is mostly credited to an early settler, Captain James Andrew, who served in the British Army in India," says Gábor Tóth, a history specialist at Wellington City Libraries.
Tóth says Andrew acquired land in Onslow, established an estate and named it Khandallah.
"There are two possible origins for Khandallah: Khandala, a hilly region about 100 kilometers east of Mumbai, and Khandela in Rajasthan," Tóth says, noting that state of Maharashtra was more likely to be the point of origin, as Khandala was a popular summer retreat for the British, offering a cool, misty climate - much like Wellington's Khandallah.
Today, the suburb features numerous streets with Indian origins, including Madras Street, Kerala Way, Cashmere Avenue, Simla Crescent, Amritsar Street, Delhi Crescent, Agra Crescent, Nagpur Terrace, Calcutta Street, Mysore Street, Lucknow Terrace, Baroda Street, Benares Street, Punjab Street and Bengal Street.
Additionally, the suburb features streets named after prominent Indian figures, including Indira Place, Rama Crescent, Shastri Terrace, Sita Way and Lakshmi Place, as well as rivers such as Ganges Road and Indus Street.
Berhampore takes its name from a city in West Bengal.
"Berhampore is one of Wellington's older suburbs, but its Indian connection is mostly in the name," Tóth says.
Broadmeadows continues the Indian influence on names that can be found in Khandallah.
Relevant streets in Broadmeadows include Kanpur Road, Orissa Crescent, Rajkot Terrace, Bandipur Terrace, Nalanda Crescent, Jaunpur Crescent and Birla Terrace.
Only a handful of streets in Wellington bore Indian names in the capital's formative years.
In 1919, the Onslow Borough (to which Khandallah belonged) joined Wellington City, followed by the Karori and Miramar boroughs in quick succession.
"This led to multiple street name duplications, like Victoria Street and High Street, causing postal issues," Tóth says. "To resolve this, the council extended the Indian naming theme."
Manisha Morar Photo:
The Indian community in Wellington takes immense pride in these names.
"Back in the day, when the suburbs were new, it was very exciting," recalls Manisha Morar, president of the Wellington Indian Association.
"In the '70s and '80s, many Indians took pride in living on streets with Indian names."
Morar believes the community would welcome more Indian-themed streets today, particularly in expanding suburbs in the Hutt Valley and northern Wellington.
"It would be nice to reflect the growth of the Indian population [in New Zealand]," she says.
Indians are the third-largest ethnic group in New Zealand, according to latest data from the 2023 Census.
According to the Wellington City Council's Naming Policy, the council prioritizes te reo Māori names (especially for sites important to mana whenua) when assigning names to streets, followed by names already in common use or names that tell stories about local history, people or events.
The policy says street names should be unique, short (preferably under 12 characters), simple to spell and pronounce, and respectful, with a goal of increasing the proportion of te reo names over time.
The policy acknowledges ethnic communities in naming practices.
It also encourages telling stories about communities through the names assigned, which can include recognizing the contributions and heritage of various ethnic groups.
"All the streets and suburbs we have now in Wellington are very historical and rooted in the colonial narrative," Morar says.
"We want to move away from that. It's time for names that reflect the new age we live in."
