Joseph Two Bulls, Dakota Sioux, ca 1900

Lakȟóta or Dakhóta translates to mean "friend" or "ally" referring to the alliances between the bands. “Sioux” is a term that refers to the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Oceti Sakowin) meaning “Seven Council Fires”. They are the confederacy of Great Plains Tribes.

The name "Sioux" was adopted in English by the 1760s from French. In the early 1700s French fur trappers moved further inland toward the west where they came upon a new group of natives whom they did not know previously, so upon their return to the east they asked Chippewa natives who spoke Ojibwe if they knew what these new people were. The Ojibwe response was that they were the “Nadowessi”, meaning “little snakes”. Being French, they added the plural suffix -oux to their name which turned into “Nadouessioux”, later shortened to just “Sioux”. The Ojibwe were enemies of the Sioux at the time.

In recent times the term “Sioux” is falling out of favour and some of the tribes have formally or informally reclaimed their traditional names.

Today the seven nations that comprise the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ are as follows, native spelling first, transliteration in parenthesis, English translation in quotes:

Lakȟóta/Teton:

▸Thítȟuŋwaŋ (Teton) possibly "dwellers on the prairie"

Santee-Sisseton "knife camp" or Eastern Dakota/Dakhóta:

▸ Bdewákaŋthuŋwaŋ (Mdewakanton) "Spirit Lake Village" or "people of the mystic lake"

▸Waȟpékhute (Wahpekute) "Leaf Archers"

▸Sisíthuŋwaŋ (Sisseton) "swamp/lake/fish scale village"

▸Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ (Wahpeton) "Leaf Village"

Yankton/Yanktonai or Western Dakota:

▸ Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ (Yankton) "Village-at-the-end"

▸ Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna (Yanktonai) "Little village-at-the-end"