If you say it out loud, the word Kurow sounds a lot like Te Kohurau. That's because the latter is the original name of a small South Canterbury town named after a tupuna (ancestor).

Kurow is a small rural town in the Waitaki District of South Canterbury.

It's popular for its cycle trails, good fishing spots and is the hometown of former All Black captain and 110-test veteran Richie McCaw.

What is perhaps less known about the town is that the name 'Kurow' is the anglicised version of 'Te Kohurau' - an ancestor who arrived in the South Island on the Āraiteuru waka.

So how did Te Kohurau become Kurow?

This kind of transition was mostly to do with how place names were interpreted, says Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZ Geographic Board) Secretariat Wendy Shaw.

"The way it was transcribed from the original Māori names were usually done by a surveyor, a settler, a crown official or a missionary and sometimes they were not that well educated, and then the other way to look at it is that they would write down what they heard according to their ear of origin."

So in all likelihood, Te Kohurau was written down as 'Kurow'.

Māori language teacher Justin Tipa (Kai Tahu and Kāti Momoe) was raised in the Waitaki Valley and recalls his family being particular about the history and the name 'Te Kohurau' - even though Kurow was what everyone called the town.

"I had a couple of uncles and aunties that were very deliberate in using the name Te Kohurau... I think most of the family just conformed to the rest of the society and I certainly grew up calling the place Kurow"

Today Justin is a cultural advisor at Fonterra and by night teaches Te Reo Māori classes in Moeraki.

It's his mission to teach local Māori about ancestral names and local stories.

"We've started having community discussions and community talks where we talk about our local place names...we're getting good engagement and largely from non-Māori, people want to know this history."

Kate White runs Waitaki Braids - a café, restaurant and lodge in Kurow - and is originally from Banks Peninsula.

Previously, she worked for Environment Canterbury aiding the organisation's shift towards working with local iwi to cement a treaty partnership and better support the Māori language.

Over time, Kate formed good work relationships with three rūnaka (iwi authorities) and became aware of Māori names and the stories in the Waitaki district.

Her interest in the history of the area's name was first sparked when she started hearing the word 'Hacker'…

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