What is "ranana"

Ranana is a settlement up the Whanganui River from Whanganui, New Zealand. Originally known as Kauika, it was grew after 1848 as local Māori moved out of fortified pā settlements in peacetime. It was renamed by the missionary Richard Taylor in 1856 for Rānana, a Māori transliteration of London. Its Catholic church, built in the 1880s for the hapū Ngāti Ruakā of the iwi Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, is still in use, as is the Ruakā marae. Nearby is Moutoa Island, site of a famous battle in 1864.