Well if your name is
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukaka pikimaunga horonukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu
then you've got 85 letters to start with(go on count 'em). This is the name of a hill near Porangahau in Hawke's Bay, a region we will be visiting (we have a stay in Napier). I cam across this name in my travel guide which indicated that it means "the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees who slid, climbed, and swallowed mountains, known as landeater, played his flute to his loved one"...hmm maybe the name itself is shorter than the meaning but not by much. At any rate I would be mighty impressed by anyone who can commit that name to memory. Now my travel guide (Fodor's 2007) is generally a very good source of info and when they indicated that this was the longest name in the world well I figured they were right but nagging scientific skepticism and a vague remembrance of a town in Wales and something about Southeast Asia prompted me to do some digging. A quick Google search later and low and behold the research team at Fodor's was proved wrong...tsk tsk. Here is a link to a site that discusses the top place names.
Seems the honor of first place goes to Bangkok Thailand with Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukaka pikimaunga horonukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu coming in a respectable 2nd place ahead of a village in Wales with the tongue-twisting name of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I've heard the town in Wales pronounced by a true Welshman and can attest that it sounds melodious and I haven't heard the other two pronounced to be able to judge which sounds the best but for pure length you can't go wrong with a little hill in New Zealand.
Anybody else have some favorite New Zealand place name they have come across?
-ACT
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