Tia was an early Maori explorer and chief. He is responsible for the names of various features and settlements around the central North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

. Horohoro

Horohoro, New Zealand

Horohoro is a farming district south-west of Rotorua, New Zealand. It was one of the first areas in Āpirana Ngata’s 1929 land development scheme, which established farms on Māori land. Horohoro’s full name is Te horohoro-o-ngā-ringaringa-a-Tia, named after an incident where the explorer...

 is named after an incident when he touched the dead body of an important chief and was cleansed by a priest in a ceremony known as Te Horohoroinga-nui-a-Tia (the great cleansing of Tia). Ātiamuri

Atiamuri

Atiamuri is a former Hydro village in the central North Island of New Zealand. It lies alongside State Highway One about 45 km north of Taupo. It is bordered by the Waikato River and surrounded by pine plantations...

 means Tia who follows behind due to the murkiness of the Waikato River

Waikato River

The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand. In the North Island, it runs for 425 kilometres from the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and emptying into Lake Taupo, New Zealand's largest lake. It drains Taupo at the lake's northeastern edge, creates the...

 leading him to believe someone was ahead of him. A set of river rapids along the river, near present day Wairākei

Wairakei

Wairakei is the name of a power station, small settlement and a geothermal area a few kilometres north of Taupo, in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand, on the Waikato River.- Geothermal field :...

 became known as Aratiatia

Aratiatia

Aratiatia Power Station is a hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the first hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River, and is located downstream of Lake Taupo....

 (the stairway of Tia). Along the shores of Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo is a lake situated in the North Island of New Zealand. With a surface area of , it is the largest lake by surface area in New Zealand, and the second largest freshwater lake by surface area in geopolitical Oceania after Lake Murray ....

 he noticed some peculiar coloured cliffs that resembled his rain coat and named them "the great cloak of Tia" or Taupō-nui-a-Tia in Maori.This name was later shortened and given to the lake and township.