The Whanganui river is in fact only the second of three geological features to have been granted personhood in NZ, the others being Te Urewera and Taranaki Mounga (mountain).
Haha, it's all good, and it gets fun when you hit the South Island / Te Waipounamu dialect of Māori where a maunga is a mauka, and sky is raki not rangi, but both variants are still used.
A classroom at my childrens' primary school was called Maungatere (floating mountain) after a nearby mountain which is now called Maukatere, same meaning.
Likewise the local iwi/tribe in my area is known both as Kāi Tahu and Ngāi Tahu, and there's a town in North Canterbury called Rangiora, which translates to, roughly "Good sky", while the 3rd largest island of Aotearoa New Zealand is called Rakiura / Stewart Island, Rakiura meaning "Glowing sky".
And our tallest mountain Aoraki / Mount Cook used to be Aorangi / Mount Cook.
And to be fair, "Mounga" is a decent rendition of how you pronounce "Maunga".
