https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/nau-mai-town/story/2018889375/nau-mai-town-episode-9-timaru

• The town's name has variations: Te Maru, preferred by the local iwi Kati Huirapa, and Te Tihi o Maru, briefly used in TV weather reports.
• "Timaru" translates to "sheltered cabbage tree" or "place of shelter" in English, while "Te Tihi o Maru" translates to "peak of Maru," associated with a local ancestor or the Māori god Tangaroa.
• Research on the true meanings and origins of these names is limited.
• Philip Howe, the Museum Director at South Canterbury Museum, notes that Māori place names often have inprecise meanings due to their age and the region's history of changing inhabitants.
• European settlers sometimes misunderstood and recorded Māori names according to their own dialects and interpretations.

- https://archive.org/details/gillespie-1958/Gillespie-1958/