Pacific's Cook Islanders mull over a new name

AVARUA, Cook Islands - The tiny Pacific nation of Cook Islands is considering changing its name to something that reflects its Polynesian culture, rather than honoring the British explorer James Cook.

The government set up a committee in January to find a new indigenous name for the grouping of 15 islands, about 3,000 kilometers northeast of New Zealand.

Initially, the idea was to have the indigenous moniker feature alongside the existing Cook Islands name, in the same way that its larger neighbor is sometimes known as Aotearoa-New Zealand.