The island is called Rekohu ("misty skies") in Moriori, and Wharekauri in Maori.
There do not seem to be recorded oral traditions of this species – most of the Moriori people, after whom this species was named, were eventually killed or enslaved by Māori explorers, and little of their natural history knowledge has been preserved.
Moriori, the Indigenous people of Rekohu (Chatham Islands, New Zealand) have developed a multi-layer database to integrate research on Moriori identity, cultural heritage protection, land use, and resource management in culturally sensitive ways.