Maori language name for Hawke's Bay is Te Matau-a-Maui ( the fishhook belonging to Maui). This name comes from a traditional story in which Maui lifted the islands of New Zealand from the waters. The story says that Hawke's Bay is the fishhook that Maui used, with Portland Island and Cape Kidnappers being the northern and southern barbs of the hook, respectively.

Hawke's Bay is one of only two places in New Zealand with a possessive apostrophe in