Indian Tribe Meanings

A - C | D - J | K - O | P - S | T - Z

A - C

• Abnaki - Those Living at the Sunrise (Easterners)
• Achomawi - River
• Acolapissa - Those Who Listen And See
• Ahtena - Ice People
• Akwesasne - Land Where the Partridge Drums
• Alabama - I Clear The Thicket
• Anishinabe - "Original People"
• Apache - Enemy (Zuni Word)
• Apache - Elk Horn Fiddlers
• Apalachicola - People Of The Other Side
• Apalachee - People Of The Other Side
• Arapaho - Mother Of Tribes
• Arikara - Horns Or Elk People, Or Corn Eaters
• Assiniboin - Ones Who Cook Using Stones (Ojibwa Word)
• Atakapa - Man Eater
• Atikamekw - White Fish
• Atsina - White Clay People
• Atsugewi - Hat Creek Ondians
• Avoyel - People Of The Rocks
• Bayogoula - People Of The Bayou
• Bidai - Brushwood (Caddo Word)
• Brule - Burned Thighs
• Caddo - True Chiefs
• Cayuga - Place Locusts Were Taken Out, People At The Mucky Land
• Cayuse - Stones Or Rocks (French-Canadian Word)
• Chakchiuma - Red Crawfish People
• Chehalis - Sand
• Cherokee - Cave People (Choctaw Word)
• Cherokee - People Of Different Speech (Creek Word)
• Chetco - Close To The Mouth Of The Stream
• Cheyenne - Finger Cutters
• Cheyenne - Red Talkers (Dakota Word)
• Chickahominy - Hominy People
• Chickamauga - Dwelling Place Of The Chief (Creek Word)
• Chipwyan - Pointed Skins (Cree Word)
• Chitimacha - They Have Cooking Vessels
• Chontal - Stranger (Nahuatl Word)
• Choula - Fox
• Chowanoc - People At The South
• Chumash - People Who Make The Shell Bead Money
• Clallam - Strong People
• Clatsop - Dried Salmon
• Cocopah - River People
• Comanche - Anyone Who Wants To Fight Me All The Time (Ute Word)
• Comanche - Snakes
• Cowichan - Basking In The Sun That Warms Your Back Or Warm Land
• Crow - Crow, Sparrowhawk, Bird People

D - J

• Dakota - Allie
• Dakotas - Related People
• Delaware - From Lord De La Warr
• Erie - Log Tail Or Cat People (Iroquois Word)
• Fox - Red Earth People
• Git' Lissums - People Of The Lissums
• Gitksan - People Of The Northern Skena
• Gros Ventre - Big Bellies, One Who Cooks With A Stone, He Cooks By Roasting
• Hach Winik - True People
• Han - Those Who Live Along The River
• Havasupai - People Of The Blue Green Water
• Hiute - Bowmen
• Honniasont - Wearing Something Around The Neck
• Hopi - Peaceful Ones Or Well-Mannered People
• Houma - Red
• Huchnom - Mountain People
• Hunkpapa - Campers At The Opening Of The Circle
• Hupa - Trinity River
• Huron - Hair Style
• Huron - Ruffian, Head Of A Boar (French Words)
• Hwal'bay (Hualapai) - People Of The Tall Pines
• Ihanktonwan - Dwellers At The End
• Ihanktonwana - Little Dwellers At The End
• Iowa - Sleepy Ones (Dakota Word)
• Iroquois - Real Adders (Snake) Or We Of The Extended Lodge
• Jatibonicu - People Of The Great Sacred High Waters
• Jatibonuco - Great People Of The Sacred High Waters
• Jicaque - Ancient Person (Nahuatl Word)
• Jicarilla - Little Basket Weaver (Spanish Word)

K - O

• Kainai - Many Chiefs
• Kakwchak - Porcupine People
• Kan-Hatki - White Earth
• Kanienkahaka - People Of The Place Of Flint
• Kanza - People Of The South Wind
• Karok - Upstream
• Kato - Lake
• Kawchottine - People Of The Great Hares
• Ketsei - Going In Wet Sand
• Kickapoo - He Stands About
• Kiowa - Principal People
• Klallam - Strong People
• Klamath - People Of The Lake
• Kotsoteka - Buffalo Eaters
• Kutcha-kutchin - Those Who Live On The Flats
• Kwuda - People Coming Out
• Lakota - Friend Or Ally (Same with Dakota & Nakota)
• Latgawa - Those Living In The Uplands
• Lenni Lenape - Genuine Men
• Lillooet - Wild Onion
• Lipan - Warriors Of The Mountains
• Machapunga - Bad Dust
• Mahican - Wolf
• Makah - Cape People
• Maliseet - Broken Talkers
• Massachuset - At The Hills
• Mdewankantonwan - Dwellers Of The Spirit Lake
• Menomonee / Menominee - Wild Rice Eaters
• Menomonee / Menominee - Wild Rice Men
• Miami - People On The Peninsula, Cry Of The Crane, Pigeon
• Michigamea - Great Water
• Miniconjou - Planters By Water
• Missouri - Great Muddy, People With Wooden Canoes
• Moapa - Mosquito Creek People
• Moatokni - Southerners
• Modoc - Southerners
• Mohave - Three Mountains
• Mohawk - The Possessors Of The Flint, Flesh, Coward, Man Eater (Abenaki Words)
• Mohegan - Wolf
• Moneton - Big Water People
• Munsee - At The Place Where The Stones Are Gathered Together
• Nahane - People Of The West
• Narragansett - People Of The Small Point
• Nanticoke - People Of The Tidewaters
• Natsit-Kutchin - Those Who Live Off The Flats
• Navajo - Cultivated Field In An Arroyo (Tewa Word)
• Nipmuck - Freshwater Fishing Place
• Nisga'a - People Of The Nass River
• Nokoni - Those Who Turn Back
• Nooksack - Mountain Men
• Nootka - Along The Coast
• Oglala - Scatters Their Own
• Ojibwa - To Roast Till Puckered Up
• Okelousa - Blackwater
• Okmulgee - Where Water Boils Up
• Omaha - Upstream People Or People Going Against The Current
• Oneida - A Boulder Standing Up, People Of The Standing Stone
• Onondaga - People On Top Of The Hills
• Opata - Hostile People (Pima Word)
• Osage - Shaved Heads
• Ottawa - Traders
• Otto - Lechers

P - S

• Pahoja - Dusty Ones
• Pakiutlema - People Of The Gap
• Pamunkey - Rising Upland
• Pantch-Pinunkansh - Men Altogether Red
• Papagos - Desert People, Bean People
• Papinashuash - The Ones Who Like To Laugh
• Pascagoula - Bread People
• Passamaquoddy - Plenty Of Pollock
• Paugusset - Where The Narrows Open Out
• Pawnee - Horn People, Men Of Men, Look Like Wolves
• Penateka - Honey Eaters
• Pennacook - Down Hill
• Penobscot - It Forks On The White Rocks Or The Descending Ledge Place, At The Stone Place
• Pensacola - Hair People, People Of The Lakes, Tribes Near The Great Lakes
• Peoria - Carrying A Pack On His Back
• Pequot - Fox People Or Destroyers
• Piegan - Scabby Robes
• Piekuakamit - The Ones From The Flat Lake
• Piikani - Poor Robe
• Pilthlako - Big Swamp
• Pima - River People, (Papago Word For "I Don't Know")
• Pojoaque - Drinking Place
• Potawatomi - People Of The Place Of The Fire, Keepers Of The Fire, (Fire Nation, Fire People)
• Powhatan - Falls In A Current Of Water
• Pshwanwapam - Stony Ground
• Puyallup - Shadow
• Quahadi - Antelope
• Quapaw - Downstream People
• Quinnipiac - Long Water Country
• Sac - People Of The Yellow Earth Or People Of The Outlet
• Salish - Flatheads
• Sans Arc - Without Bows
• Schaghticoke - At The River Forks
• Sekani - Dwellers On The Rocks
• Seminole - Separatist, Runaway or Breakaway, Peninsula People
• Seminole - Run Away People
• Seneca - Place Of Stone, People Of The Standing Rock, Great Hill People
• Shawnee - South Or Southerners
• Shoshone - Sheep Eaters
• Sihasapa Sioux - Blackfeet
• Siksika - Blackfeet Or Black Foot
• Sioux - Snake (French version Of Other Tribe's Name)
• Sioux - French for "Cut-Throats"
• Sisitonwan - Dwellers Of The Fish Ground
• Skokomish - River People

T - Z

• Taino - We The Good People
• Takelma - Those Living Along The River
• Tanima - Liver Eaters
• Tangipahoa - Corn Gatherers
• Tantawats - Southern Men
• Tatsanottine - People Of The Copper Water
• Tawakoni - River Bend Among Red Hills
• Tejas - Friendly
• Tenawa - Down Stream
• Tennuth-Ketchin - Middle People
• Teton - Dwellers Of The Prairie
• Tewa - Moccasins
• Thlingchadinne - Dog-Flank People
• Tinde - People Of The Mountains
• Titonwan - Dwellers Of The Plains
• Tonawanda - Confluent Stream
• Tonkawa - They All Stay Together Or Most Human Of People
• Tsattine - Lives Among The Beavers
• Tsetsaut - People Of The Interior (Niska Word)
• Tsimshian - People Of The River
• Tsuu t'ina - Great Number Of People
• Tubatulabal - Pinenut Eaters (Shoshone Word)
• Tuscarora - Hemp Gatherers, The Shirt Wearing People
• Two kettle - Two Boilings
• Unalachtgo - Tidewater People
• Ute - Dark Skinned
• Vunta-Ketchin - Those Who Live Among The Lakes
• Wahpekute - Shooters Among The Leaves
• Wahpetonwan - Dwellers Among The Leaves
• Wailaki - North Language (Wintun Word)
• Wakokai - Blue Heron Breeding Place
• Walapai - Pine Tree People
• Wallawalla - Little River
• Wampanoag - Eastern People
• Wappo - Brave
• Waptailmin - People Of The Narrow River
• Wasco - Cup, Those Who Have The Cup
• Wichita - Big Arbor (Choctaw Word)
• Wichita - Raccoon Eyes
• Winnebago - Filthy Water People
• Wiwohka - Roaring Water
• Wyandot - People Of The Peninsula, Islanders
• Yakima - Runaway, Pregnant People, People Of The Narrows
• Yamparika - Rooteaters Or Yapeaters
• Yavapai - People Of The Sun, Crooked Mouth People
• Yoncalla - Those Living At Ayankeld
• Yuchi - Situated Yonder
• Yuki - Stranger (Wintun Word)
• Yurok - Downstream (Karok Word)

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