Native American Names?

How did Native Americans recieve names such as Crazy Horse or Standing Bear? Who decided on what their name would be? I heard that the child is named after the first animal the mother sees after giving birth. Is that true?

Native American Names?
In modern times, (and in the past) an elder is often ask for a name for a person (child or adult). The name is reveled to them in many ways, dreams/visions, personality/characteristics of the person, or the name of the persons past family member etc.





Now-a-days, young families often give their child a Native name at birth. (which was not done in the past.) Most of these names follow the English convention of using a single word such as:





Nimki - thunder


Negonee - (he/she) leads


Wassagone' - flower


Bineshiinh - bird


Ma'iiangan - wolf





In the past, names that were given to a baby, often were not used too early, to address the child. Since the baby had just come from the spirit world, if their name was too well known they may be called back.





So people had many names or nicknames, throughout their life. This still holds true in many places, people will have an English name, a spirit/Native name, but are commonly known by their nicknames.





My name is Zhaawaabanokwe


Translated it can be said "Southern Morning Woman" or "Woman of the Southern Morning"





If it did not have "kwe" at the end, which means woman, It would be a man's name, "Southern Morning"





In early contact, English often used "maiden" which then was corrupted into "princess"





That is how names such as "Princess Morning Star" came about. The name more likely was, "Morning Star Woman".


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Reply:It depends on the different native tribes. Naming traditions for Muskogee Creeks would not be the same as naming traditions for Hidatsa Sioux. In my tribe, babies are given their name 7 days after birth. It is certainly NOT based on the first animal the mother sees, or the first thing in nature she sees. The first name of the child usually is a little bit generic, like Flower or Smiles. As the child grows older, their name will change according to the things they do in their life. Once the child matures, they can change their own name. Like someone else was saying, English names are only translations of the real native names. Native names sound like Ahinawake, Kenati, Agaska, etc.
Reply:Pick one of the two above me...





I've heard/read of the old "walk outside and saw..." theory, though I haven't heard it from any legitimate source of my own. That's not to say that there isn't perhaps a Nation/tribe that did/does it that way, because maybe it did come from someone. It just can't be generalized for all of them.





For as far as what little I've been told by a few people who are Lakota, what the woman above me said sounds most like theirs. And I think supposedly their names can sometimes also come from some trait or event in life, like a heroic act, so they may have more than one name in their lifetime. A childhood name isn't necessarily what they might have at, say, 25. Though it's just what I've been told, can't really speak for them myself.





As for Crazy Horse, Tashunka witko, I've heard that his name was originally closer to "His Horse is Crazy," which is better understood where it might have come from.
Reply:What if the first animal they see is a walking roach?
Reply:You have to take into account that Natives didn't originally have english names. That was until residential schools were put into effect, thats why, if you notice the older generation (my grandparent's ages) all had "church names", eg, Joseph, Mary, stuff like that because they were being "saved". So in my culture (Mohawk/Haudenosaunee/Iroquois, which ever you want to call us) we didn't have last names, we went by our clan, eg, if I were Turtle clan, my parents would pick a name with something to do with the water.





But now, some people have used the original names their parents had as last names, I have a friend whose great grandfather's name was standing arrow, so they adapted that to their last name.





We choose our traditional names from something like a registry of names, only 1 person from a nation can have that name because if they end up sick, we ask the creator to send them medicine and since we only have 1 name and only 1 person has it, there won't be any confusion as to who gets the name. So we pick a name out of a book that we like. But the name has to belong to that clan.





Hope that helped.
Reply:after birth, the parent will go outside, close there eyes, and the first thing they see when they open them, thats it... for example, my indian name is red cloud... cuz my mom saw the clouds during a sun set. and her name is running dear, because my grandfather saw a group of running dear when he opened his eyes.
Reply:There are so many different native Americans and they all had different traditions for naming there children.