Christchurch (Ōtautahi) is the regional capital of Canterbury, New Zealand. The largest city in the South Island, it is also the second largest city and third largest urban area of New Zealand. A coastal city, it is situated just north of Banks Peninsula, midway down the South Island's east coast.

The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the surrounding province of Canterbury. The name of Christchurch was agreed on at the first meeting of the association on 27 March 1848. It was suggested by J.R. Godley, who had attended Christ Church, Oxford. Some early writers called the town "Christ Church", but it was recorded as "Christchurch" in the minutes of the management committee of the association. A History of Canterbury, Vol. 1 - Sir James Hight & Straubel, C.R.; Canterbury Centennial Association and Whitcombe and Tombs, Christchurch 1957, Page 121

The river which flows through the centre of the city (its banks now largely forming an urban park) was named Avon at the request of the pioneering Deans brothers to commemorate the Scottish Avon, which rises in the Ayrshire hills near what was their grandfathers' farm and flows into the Clyde. The usual Māori name Ōtautahi is a shortened form of Te Whenua o Te Potiki-Tautahi - named for the seasonal dwelling of Ngai Tahu chief Tautahi of Port Levy on a bank of the Avon River near to where the Barbadoes Street bridge now stands.