Baby names · Sioux origin

Dakota, Lakota and Nakota

Sioux is an exonym. The peoples it refers to call themselves Dakota, Lakota and Nakota — words meaning ally or friend, which is precisely the meaning carried by the name Dakota itself. Naming among these nations is bound up with ceremony, family and community standing rather than with lists of meanings, and many names are not given outside the community. Dakota is the one that has entered general English use.

1 Sioux name in our library1 unisex