特瓦普纳姆（毛利语：Te Waipounamu）是新西兰南岛正式的毛利语名称，有时该岛因为神话典故而被称为「特瓦卡厄茂伊」（毛利语：Te Waka a Māui），意指「茂伊的独木舟」。

纳塔胡是新西兰南部重要的毛利人部落，当地人利用非常坚硬的毛利碧玉（Pounamu，又称绿石）制作手斧等器具以及装饰品。而在毛利碧玉之中特具价值者为颜色较淡的软玉，毛利语中称为「伊纳喀（inanga）」，出产于现在名为达特峡谷（Dart Valley）的偏远之处。毛利人将这个地区命名为「瓦希普纳姆（wāhi pounamu）」，意为「绿石之地」，而新西兰南岛也因而被命名为「Te Wāhi Pounamu」。「Te Wāhi Pounamu」后来不知为何被改为「Te Wai Pounamu」，意思是「绿石之水」，但已与原始词意没有关联。

Te Waipounamu is the official Māori name for New Zealand's South Island which is also sometimes referred to as Te Waka a Māui (The canoe of Maui), from mythology.

Ngāi Tahu, the principal Māori iwi (tribe) of the southern region of New Zealand, utilised the very hard greenstone (jade) to make adzes and other implements, as well as ornaments. Particularly valued was a paler nephrite which the Māori called inanga, gathered in a remote area near what is now called the Dart Valley. Māori named the district wāhi pounamu, meaning "place of greenstone", and the South Island came to be called Te Wāhi Pounamu. This somehow evolved into Te Wai Pounamu which means "the water(s) of greenstone" but bears no relation to the original meaning.