A Proper Name

Many of the familiar names you know for Native American tribes are not names they have chosen for themselves. Often they were named by other tribes, not all of whom were their friends.

The Sioux actually have three major divisions named the Isanyathi, aka: the Santee ("knife"); the Ihankthunwan, aka: Yankton ("village at the end"), and the Thithunwan, aka: Teton or Lakota ("dwellers on the prairie"). The Sioux name probably comes from Nadouessiouak, an Odawa/Ottawa word meaning "small rattlesnake," not intended as a compliment.

The name of the Nez Perce tribe is French for "pierced nose", while the tribe refers to itself as Nimiipuu ("the real people"). The Nez Perce did not pierce their noses but another tribe, which did, lived nearby.

The Cherokee call themselves the Tsalagi or Aniyvwiyai ("principal people"). The name by which they are best known is possibly from the Choctaw cha-la-kee ("those who live in the mountains"). Another possible Choctaw origin for the name means "those who live in caves."

The traditional explanation of the Iroquois name is from the derogatory Wyandot word "irinakhoiw" meaning "real adders." The Iroquois name for the tribe is Haudenosaunee, meaning "they are building a long house."

The earliest Christians called themselves "the sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5) and "those of the way" (Acts 9:2). The name "Christians" (Xριστιανουσ) was a derogatory term applied by outsiders and later proudly adopted by believers. The Latin suffix "ianos" implied that one was a slave of the one to whose name it was affixed.

"And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Acts 11:26