 In 2009 the NZGB recommended renaming the city of Wanganui to Whanganui as the town was originally named after the Whanganui River and the word "wanga" is not in the Māori lexicon.The government decided later in 2009 to accept both "Whanganui" and "Wanganui" as alternative official names.The spelling "Wanganui" may have originated to reflect the dialectal pronunciation of local Māori, who pronounce 'wh' (an "f"-like sound in other dialects) as – a glottalised "w".