Entry № 8241 · Maori origin

Pounamu Pounamu — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ POH-nah-moo /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Maori
Meaning
"Greenstone, treasured jade"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Ancient (Maori)

A name that means "greenstone, treasured jade".

Pounamu is the Maori word for the precious green jade (nephrite) found in New Zealand's South Island. Pounamu is the most treasured material in Maori culture — used for tools, weapons, and the iconic hei-tiki pendants worn as ancestral talismans.

Pounamu is rare but distinctive.

Greenstone. The most treasured Maori material.

The name in its native script.

Pounamu
Transliteration
Pounamu
Pronunciation
/ ˈpoʊ.nə.muː /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Pounamu stands.

Pounamu does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Pounamus before her.

Real people

In fiction
Pounamu
Common in Maori fiction.

Names connected to Pounamu.

The number behind Pounamu.

2

The Peacemaker

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Pounamu reduce to 2, The Peacemaker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.