Kiwifruit, shortened as kiwi, was named after the bird of the same name due to its fuzzy brown resemblance. The curiously shaped birds live only in New Zealand, so that’s where the fruit is from, right? Wrong! Kiwis – the fruits– come from China. The Chinese name is actually a different animal, because “macaque peaches” are so popular with … macaques.
Anyway, how did kiwi fruit get named for kiwi birds? At the turn of the 1900s, the principle of a New Zealand college brought some seeds from China to New Zealand, and after a few decades, New Zealand began exporting them to the United States as “Chinese gooseberries.” Unfortunately they started this exporting business right around the Cold War. And at the time, nothing associated with Red China would sell well in the US.
So what to do? Rename them (again). First, New Zealand tried “melonettes,” but high American tariffs placed on melons and berries killed that idea. Someone hit on the idea of changing the name from “goose” to the New Zealand national bird, “kiwis.” And they changed “berries” to “fruits,” which had lower tariffs. And thus the modern kiwi that you know and love was named.
And then New Zealanders don’t even call THEMSELVES New Zealanders…
They call themselves Kiwi.
Kiwi = bird, fruit, people
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