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This section discusses the origins of some of the lesser known names on Nelson maps.

Short contributions from readers are invited.

Lake Sylvester is named after Samuel James Holden Sylvester (1899–1931), the only child of pioneer English parents who settled on a farm in the outbacks of Hawkes Bay.

"Sylvie" or "Sam" as he was known to his friends and associates was the epitome of a "character". Mildly eccentric, a man of all occasions, gentlemanly, courteous, generous and humorous. Nevertheless he was a most forcible and forthright person, a loyal friend, scornful of vacillation and weakness (of character) and monumentally intolerant of humbug and self-importance, and not in the least backward in saying so in forcible and picturesque terms.

His strength and endurance were remarkable and some of his trips and feats were legendary in his time—e.g. carrying his pack and bicycle over one of the minor alpine passes; later, with the aid of an axe, shovel and wire strainer he took his old car over places that would now be possibilities for four-wheel drive vehicles. One of his old associates still recalls with awe that on a field trip when accommodation was short Sylvie slept out unperturbed under an old truck, surrounded by five inches of snow!

He attended Canterbury University College near the end of World War I, going on active service and getting as far as England when the war was finished. On his return he majored in geology and for some years acted as laboratory demonstrator where his keen analytical mind and wide knowledge made a strong impression on the students. In the university vacations he worked on the geological survey and in the mid-twenties was in the Mt. Arthur-Cobb area. His superiors describe him as a most able, methodical and painstaking geologist who would have gone far in his profession. He was particularly suited to fieldwork with his untiring energy and strength allied to his acute perception and thoroughness. At the time of his death he was a Junior Lecturer.

Sylvester himself used to describe how on such surveys particularly difficult and objectionable geological features were facetiously and temporarily named after various members of the party. One theory is that Lake Sylvester was originally named after an early morning dip in it.

It was a great tragedy when he was drowned with a companion in 1931 when attempting to sail a small boat from New Plymouth to Lyttelton, an action that was strangely out of character.