2009 Special Honours (New Zealand)
The 2009 Special Honours in New Zealand were announced in August 2009 as a result of the reinstatement of the appellations of "Sir" and "Dame" to the New Zealand Royal Honours System by passing Special Regulation 2009/90 Additional Statutes of The New Zealand Order of Merit, a legally binding regulation with the force of law in New Zealand.
The effect of the change was that individuals who had been appointed as Principal Companions or Distinguished Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit were given the option of accepting titular honours: Principal Companions could opt to become Knights or Dames Grand Companion, and Distinguished Companions could become Knights or Dames Companion. Of the 85 living Principal and Distinguished Companions at the time, all but 13 accepted redesignation. Living widows of deceased male Principal or Distinguished Companions were eligible to be granted the courtesy title of "Lady".
The recipients are displayed as they were styled before the redesignation, and the date given in brackets is the date of the original appointment as a Principal or Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
New Zealand Order of Merit
Knight Grand Companion (GNZM)
The following Principal Companions were redesignated Knights Grand Companion:- His Excellency The Honourable Anand Satyanand – governor-general of New Zealand.
- Professor Paul Terence Callaghan – of Wellington.
- Emeritus Professor Lloyd George Geering – of Wellington.
- Sir Patrick Ledger Goodman – of Motueka.
- Professor Ralph Heberley Ngātata Love – of Porirua.
Dame Companion (DNZM)
- Heather Begg – of Sydney, Australia.
- Emeritus Professor Judith Mary Caroline Binney – of Auckland.
- Dr Vera Doreen Blumhardt – of Wellington.
- Professor Margaret Clark – of Wellington.
- Christine McKelvie Cole Catley – of North Shore.
- Lynley Stuart Dodd – of Tauranga.
- Dr Mary Josephine Drayton – of Tauranga.
- Jocelyn Barbara Fish – of Hamilton.
- Patricia Mary Harrison – of Dunedin.
- Grace Shellie Hollander – of Christchurch.
- Professor Linda Jane Holloway – of Dunedin.
- Margaret Mary Millard – of Palmerston North.
- Deirdre Glenna Milne – of Auckland.
- Lois Joan Muir – of Dunedin.
- Dr Claudia Josepha Orange – of Wellington.
- Alison Burns Quentin-Baxter – of Wellington.
- Alison Mary Roxburgh – of Nelson.
- The Honourable Margaret Kerslake Shields – of Pukerua Bay.
- The Right Honourable Jennifer Mary Shipley – of Auckland.
- Dr Margaret June Sparrow – of Wellington.
- Sukhinder Kaur Turner – of Wanaka.
- Robin Adair White – of Masterton.
- Gillian Karawe Whitehead – of Alexandra.
Knight Companion (KNZM)
- The Honourable Noel Crossley Anderson – of Waitakere.
- Professor Donald Ward Beaven – of Christchurch.
- The Right Honourable Peter Blanchard – of Wellington.
- Judge David James Carruthers – of Paraparaumu.
- Russell Coutts – of Valencia, Spain.
- The Honourable Edward Taihakurei Junior Durie – of Lower Hutt.
- Eion Sinclair Edgar – of Queenstown.
- Air Marshal Bruce Reid Ferguson – of Wellington.
- George Vjeceslav Fistonich – of Auckland.
- Dr Alan Russell Frampton – of Auckland.
- Lieutenant-Colonel Harawira Tiri Gardiner – of Wellington.
- David Rendel Kingston Gascoigne – of Wellington.
- The Right Honourable Thomas Munro Gault – of Auckland.
- Professor Peter David Gluckman – of Auckland.
- John Packard Goulter – of Paihia.
- The Honourable John William Hansen – of Rangiora.
- The Right Honourable John Steele Henry – of Auckland.
- Professor Vaughan Frederick Randal Jones – of Piedmont, California, United States of America.
- The Honourable Douglas Lorimer Kidd – of Wellington.
- Patrick Desmond Mahony – of Wellington.
- Peter Charles Maire – of North Shore.
- Professor Alan Francis Mark – of Dunedin.
- Emeritus Professor Arthur Harold Marshall – of Auckland.
- Dr David Charles Mauger – of Auckland.
- The Honourable John Joseph McGrath – of Wellington.
- Dr Sidney Moko Mead – of Wellington.
- Colin Earl Meads – of Te Kuiti.
- Ralph Norris – of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Noel Stuart Robinson – of Auckland.
- Peter Graham Siddell – of Auckland.
- Professor David Christopher Graham Skegg – of Dunedin.
- Bruce Houlton Slane – of Auckland.
- Dr Peter George Snell – of Dallas, Texas, United States of America.
- Kenneth Allen Stevens – of Auckland.
- Archie John Te Atawhai Taiaroa – of Taumarunui.
- Tumu Te Heuheu – of Taupo.
- The Right Honourable Edmund Walter Thomas – of Auckland.
- Stephen Robert Tindall – of North Shore.
- The Right Honourable Andrew Patrick Charles Tipping – of Wellington.
- Peter John Trapski – of Tauranga.
- Henry William van der Heyden – of Putāruru.
- John Wells – of Auckland.
- Tennant Edward Wilson – of Lower Hutt.
- The Honourable William Gillow Gibbes Austen Young – of Christchurch.
Widows of Principal and Distinguished Companions
- Olive Doreen Hutchins – of Queenstown.
- Elaine Ivy James – of Hamilton.
- Doris Parekohe Vercoe – of Rotorua.