In Māori mythology, Tiki is the name commonly given to the first man.
Māori traditions do not preserve one single creation account. In some versions, Tāne creates Tiki and then makes a woman for him; in others, Tūmatauenga creates him. Some West Coast traditions instead describe the first human as a woman created by Tāne, while other stories say Tiki himself produces the first woman from earth or through a miraculous encounter with his reflection.
Tiki is associated with the beginning of human reproduction and ancestry. In one well-known story, he meets Mārikoriko, or another first woman depending on the tradition, and their descendants continue the human line. These variations are why Tiki is best understood as the conventional answer to the “first man” question, rather than as part of a single uniform Māori canon.
The word tiki also refers to humanoid carvings and, especially, hei-tiki pendants. Polynesian cultures have related words and ancestor figures, but the Māori mythological first man is specifically Tiki.