There was a mix-up of words when James Cook came up with the name 'Tolaga' for the small east coast town of Tolaga Bay, but the locals choose to call it Uawa.

'Tolaga Bay' - the name given to a small town on the east coast of the North Island - came about due to a misinterpretation.

In mid-October 1769, Captain James Cook sailed into the harbour and ask questions of local Māori.

Wayne Ngata (Nō Te Aitanga a Hauiti) lives in Tolaga Bay and is a leading figure in the local history of his hometown.

"When Jim Cook rocked up to Uawa... in that process he had been asking directions. Their response was to the effect of saying 'Te Raki' or to the north. He took that as being a placename."

The words 'Te Raki' were apparently heard as 'Te Raka' and wound up as 'Tolaga', Ngata says.

"The difficulty in communicating in languages that are different... We can surmise on these things, having said that, there were still references in Cooks' head about the name of the place and that was a mistake."

It wasn't the first time James Cook had gotten a name wrong.

It also occurred in other parts of Aotearoa, says the secretariat of the New Zealand Geographic Board Wendy Shaw.

"Captain Cook's North Umbrian ear wrote...Tovy - Poe - Nammu. So that's what he heard and so in his English, that's how he wrote Te Wai Pounamu."

But according to Wayne Ngata, the locals call their home 'Uawa' after the local river and an ancestor from Hawaiiki. The full name is 'Uawa Nui a Ruamatua' or 'The Great River of Ruamatua'.

While Tolaga Bay is still commonplace, local kaiako Hinauri Donald says the name 'Uawa' is still new to others outside of the town.

"When I would meet new people and you'd say Uawa...they wouldn't really know where Uawa was and so I would say Tolaga Bay... I mean, I've just always tried to use the Māori name because that's what we use here."

Te Rangirangi, who has lived in Tolaga Bay her whole life, remembers another iteration of the name.

"It was Tabago, not Tolaga... When Captain Cook first came here he landed at Cooks Cove. That was the original name for this place."

In 1894, the town was given the name 'Buckley' after colonial secretary Patrick Buckley but it never stuck and reverted back to being Tolaga Bay.

That name is similar to those of other towns named after men who lived overseas and never set foot in this country, Wayne Ngata says…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details