Variations on the spelling of Timaru

1839 Weller Octavius Harwood - Temudu and Temurdu
1840 Hemplemann - Timaroo
1840 Map - Timaroo
Maori map SI - Timarou
1841 Halswell - Timarou
1842 Shipwreck report - Temaroo
1846 The New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian - Timuoru
1847 Williams - Timiro
1848-1850 Admiralty maps - Timaru
1849 Torlesse Papers - Temudu
1851 Lyttelton Times - Timaru Bay
1852 Lyttelton Times - Timaru
1855 Hewlings - Timaru
1857 Archdeacon Harper - Te Maru
1858 Maritime Record - Timaroo
1984 Port Tug - Te Maru
Te Tihi-o-Maru

See a spreadsheet compiled by Geoff Cloake: Timaru-Early-names

Beattie, who settled in Waimate, interviewed several South Island Maori elders about placenames during the 1920s and 30s. His book refers to Timaru as meaning "sheltered cabbage tree", and says the name Timaru is probably a local adaptation of "tumaru", meaning "shady". However, Archdeacon Harper in 1957 referred to Caroline Bay having "a Maori name, Te Maru". In 1842 there was a report of a shipwreck on "Long Beach, Timaroo, about 90 miles to the Southward of Akaroa". Author OA Gillespie, in South Canterbury A Record of Settlement mentions ti being Maori for cabbage tree and maru being interpreted as shelter.