# How did Europeans get in the habit of translating Native American names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-europeans-get-in-the-habit-of-translating-native-american-names/316979 "2005-08-14T17:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-europeans-get-in-the-habit-of-translating-native-american-names/316979/21 "2005-08-15T17:56:02Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Not necessarily an exception, but what was Geronimo’s real name? (“Geronimo” merely being the Spanish equivalent (IIRC) of Jerome). And why was he called that? Geronimo’s birth name was Goyathlay (some sources give Goyakla), “one who yawns.” The reason for his nickname in Spanish are unknown, but it could have been an attempt to pronounce his real name. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-europeans-get-in-the-habit-of-translating-native-american-names/316979/22 "2005-08-15T18:27:20Z")
It is interesting that the Apache leaders who fought against the Americans at about the same time as the Plains Indians were _not_ called by translations of their Indian names, but rather by either their actual Indian names or European nicknames that were not translations of their Indian names: Geronimo, Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, Nana, Victorio, Juh, Delshay, Nakaidoklini. Neither were the leading figures in the Modoc War in Oregon in 1873: Captain Jack, Hooker Jim, Black Jim, Scarface Charley, Boston Charley, Bogus Charley, John Schonchin, Brancho, and Slolux. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-europeans-get-in-the-habit-of-translating-native-american-names/316979/23 "2005-08-15T18:55:44Z")
Many animal names we use today are also bastardized versions of the original Native word. For example, “Skunk” is derived from the Algonquian “Sigonku”, meaning “He Who Squirts”. The Europeans had trouble pronouncing it properly. Same goes for “Moose” - the Cree word for it is “Mooswa” (pronounced MOOSH-wa). ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-europeans-get-in-the-habit-of-translating-native-american-names/316979/24 "2005-08-15T20:02:52Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > There are several that seem to fit among the Seneca of New York, but since I don’t speak Seneca, I can’t say if they’re really translations of native names: Red Jacket, Half King, Blacksnake, Cornplanter, Handsome Lake. Red Jacket is not a translation of his Indian name, Sagoyewatha. The Red Jacket bit is because he wore a red jacket (go figure). In the 1880s, his body was moved from an Indian cemetary to a more posh location, and outfitted with a spiffy new marker. This has SAGOYEWATHA in big letters, “Red Jacket” is smaller. I guess this surprised me, it seems to indicate that Red Jacket was (correctly) viewed as a nickname, not his actual name, even in the 19th century. Cornplanter, on the other hand, is a very rough translation of his native name, which I’ve seen written as Kaintwakon, Kantwaka, and probably a million other variations, and means something like “he who is known by that which he plants”. To mix things up even more, Cornplanter also had an English name, John, after his father (who was white). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-europeans-get-in-the-habit-of-translating-native-american-names/316979/25 "2005-08-15T20:39:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Geronimo’s birth name was Goyathlay (some sources give Goyakla), “one who yawns.” The reason for his nickname in Spanish are unknown, but it could have been an attempt to pronounce his real name. I have read that it might have been a corruption of Jerome given to him by a priest at a mission in the Apache area, but I don’t remember where I read that. An aside that’s not quite a hijack: does anybody remember a few years ago when an advocacy group for the mentally ill (I don’t believe it was NAMI or anything that well known, but it may have been) complained about the use of the word “Crazy” in the Crazy Horse Memorial [[artist rendering of the memorial upon completion](http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/images/CrazyHorVis.jpg)])? They wanted the name reverted to Tashunkewitko or otherwise changed so as not to defame the mentally ill. I thought it was one of the loopier moments among activists (particularly since everybody who sees it is still going to call it _Crazy Horse_, though to be politically correct they could perhaps have a veterinary psychiatric historian research the horse’s exact illness and perhaps call it “Rapidly-Cycling-Bipolar-Tendencies-as-Described-in-the-DSM-IV-under-221.54\* Horse” or whatnot. \*To the more anally inclined: don’t bother looking that particular diagnosis up as I just made the numbers up ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-europeans-get-in-the-habit-of-translating-native-american-names/316979/26 "2005-08-15T20:58:30Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I have read that it might have been a corruption of Jerome given to him by a priest at a mission in the Apache area, but I don’t remember where I read that.[/SIZE] It wouldn’t have been a corruption of Jerome, since _Geronimo/Jeronimo_ is just the regular Spanish form of that name. One story is that when he led a charge against some Mexicans, they began to pray loudly to their patron saint, Jerome (San Geronimo), for help. After his victory in battle Goyathly’s warriors began to call him _Geronimo_ because of their fear-striken cries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-europeans-get-in-the-habit-of-translating-native-american-names/316979.md?page=1)