Cheyenne People - Name

Name

The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two tribes, the Só'taeo'o (more commonly as Sutaio) and the Tsétsêhéstâhese (more commonly as the Tsitsistas; singular: Tsétsêhéstaestse), which translates to "those like us" or "Human Beings." These two tribes had always traveled together, becoming fully merged sometime after 1831, when they were still noted as having separate camps. The Suhtai were said to have originally had slightly different speech and customs from their traveling companions.

The name "Cheyenne" derives from Dakota Sioux exonym for them, Šahíyena (meaning "little Šahíya"). Though the identity of the Šahíya is not known, many Great Plains tribes assume it means Cree or some other people who spoke an Algonquian language related to Cree and Cheyenne. The Cheyenne word for Ojibwa is "Sáhea'eo'o," a word that sounds similar to the Dakota word Šahíya.

One of the most common etymologies for Cheyenne is "a bit like the alien speech" (literally, "red-talker"). According to George Bird Grinnell, the Dakota had referred to themselves and fellow Siouan-language bands as "white talkers", and those of other language families, such as the Algonquian Cheyenne, as "red talkers" (Šahíyena).