Native American Tribe Names

In my Memorial Day post, I mentioned a lot of tribes whose members functioned as code talkers in World War I and II. This reminded me of something you might find interesting on tribal names, which I saw in “Earthsong,” a Heard Museum event catalog. 

Over the years, many tribes have come to be known by names given to them by someone else. Often, these names were changed by the government, the Spaniards, the French, or other tribes who found it convenient to use a different frame of reference. What tribe or group would ever like having their name changed for them? And the given names were sometimes disrespectful. 

Looking at the chart of American Indian tribes below, you’ll see that the names the tribes call themselves generally refer to the people or where the people live.

Facebook Comments
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
This entry was posted in History, Culture, Justice and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

26 Comments

  1. Posted November 17, 2012 at 7:25 pm | Permalink

    I am really impressed with your writing skills as well as
    with the layout on your blog. It’s rare to see a great blog like this one nowadays.

  2. Posted December 3, 2012 at 11:18 am | Permalink

    I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I don’t know who you
    are but Cheers!

  3. Posted December 3, 2012 at 11:32 pm | Permalink

    Having read this I believed it was very informative.
    I appreciate you finding the time and energy to put this information together.
    I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time both reading and commenting.
    But so what, it was still worth it!

  4. Posted December 4, 2012 at 1:10 am | Permalink

    Great info. Lucky me I recently found your site by accident (stumbleupon).
    I have book-marked it for later!

  5. Posted December 4, 2012 at 9:41 pm | Permalink

    Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on websites I stumbleupon every day.

  6. Posted December 8, 2012 at 7:54 pm | Permalink

    Howdy! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He always kept preaching about this. I’ll forward this post to him. Pretty sure he’ll have a great read. Many thanks for sharing!

  7. Posted December 13, 2012 at 1:24 pm | Permalink

    I want to remark on some general things, The web site style is great, the articles is really excellent : D.
    Good job, cheers

    • Posted July 26, 2013 at 4:03 am | Permalink

      I couldn’t refrain from commenting. Exceptionally well written!

  8. Posted December 18, 2012 at 5:45 am | Permalink

    I do not suppose I’ve truly read something
    like this before. So wonderful to discover someone with some genuine
    thoughts on this subject matter. Really..
    thank you for starting this up. This web site is one thing that’s needed on the internet, someone with a little originality!

  9. Posted December 20, 2012 at 5:17 pm | Permalink

    Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article.

    I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.

  10. Posted December 22, 2012 at 10:55 pm | Permalink

    Thanks very interesting blog!

  11. Posted January 5, 2013 at 6:34 am | Permalink

    I blog often and I truly thank you for your content.
    This great article has truly peaked my interest.
    I’m going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new details about once a week. I opted in for your Feed too.

  12. Posted January 5, 2013 at 5:17 pm | Permalink

    I quite like reading through a poѕt that can mаκe
    people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to cоmment!

  13. Posted January 7, 2013 at 5:09 am | Permalink

    Spot on with this write-up, I truly feel this site needs a great deal more attention.

    I’ll probably be back again to read through more, thanks for the information!

  14. Posted January 22, 2013 at 2:59 pm | Permalink

    Amazing. I agree.

  15. Posted January 24, 2013 at 9:15 pm | Permalink

    Quality content is important to invite the viewers to
    pay a quick visit the website, that’s what this website is providing.

  16. Posted February 19, 2013 at 10:10 pm | Permalink

    NATIVE AMERICAN ONEIDA TRIBES TOO.

  17. Posted February 28, 2013 at 1:20 am | Permalink

    There is definately a lot to know about this issue.

    I really like all of the points you made.

  18. Posted August 7, 2013 at 9:53 pm | Permalink

    I cant say the names GRRR!

  19. Posted January 13, 2015 at 3:57 am | Permalink

    What I admire about the Native Americans and Canadians is the simple lives they lead getting what they need from nature living off the land.

  20. Posted January 7, 2016 at 10:02 pm | Permalink

    Um, I’d hate to say anything but Arapaho is actually a misheard crow word, it was “alapaho” and heard as Arapaho. It’s means “many tattoos” coming from a crow and arapaho

  21. Posted January 8, 2016 at 1:56 am | Permalink

    Yes I like to know about the Blackfoot indians

  22. Posted April 9, 2018 at 12:05 pm | Permalink

    Amazing website!!!

  23. Posted February 2, 2019 at 11:43 pm | Permalink

    I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later. Cheers

  24. Posted February 4, 2019 at 11:08 am | Permalink

    just wanted to say wonderful blog!

Post a Reply to Mizuno MX Golf Clubs Cancel reply

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

Please be considerate of other visitors. Inappropriate language will be deleted. You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*
*

*

  • Subscribe to the blog and updates about our work in Indian Country

  • Popular Items