Navajo Nation - Name

Name

In English, the initial name for the area was "Navajo Indian Reservation," governed since 1923 by the "Navajo Tribal Council." On April 15, 1969, the official name on the seal used by the government was changed to "Navajo Nation," stating that from that day on "all correspondence, stationary , letterheads of the Navajo Tribe use the designation 'Navajo Nation' to locate the tribe." In 1994, a proposal to change the official designation from "Navajo" to "Diné" was rejected by the council. They said the name Diné represented the time of suffering before the Long Walk, and that Navajo is the appropriate designation for the future.

In Navajo, the geographic entity with its legally defined borders is known as "Naabeehó Bináhásdzo." This contrasts with "Diné Bikéyah" and "Naabeehó Bikéyah" for the general idea of "Navajoland." More importantly, neither of these designations should be confused with "Dinétah," the term used for the traditional homeland of the Navajo people, situated in the area between the mountains Dookʼoʼoosłííd (San Francisco Peaks), Dibé Ntsaa (Hesperus Mountain), Sisnaajiní (Blanca Peak), and Tsoodził (Mount Taylor).