Algonquin ethnonyms

This is a list of various names the Algonquins have been recorded.

The most general name for the Algonquins is Anishinaabe. Though several definitions are given for this name, the most common one is "spontaneous men", referring to their creation as being ex nihlo, thus being the "Original men." When syncoped, the name appears as "Nishnaabe".

Among the Anishinaabe peoples, the Nipissings and the Algonquins are collectively called Odishkwaagamii(g) (syncoped as Dishkwaagmii(g)), meaning "[those] at the end of the lakewater," but Jean Cuoq translates the name as "[those] at the last water," from ishkwaa ("end") and gami ("lakewater"). Chamberlain prefers "[people] on the otherside of the lake" though Chamberlin's translation would be for the Odagaamii(g) — the Fox. Among the Nipissings, though, they call themselves Odishkwaagamii(g) and call the Algonquins Omaamiwinini(wag) — the "downstream man (men)".

Omaamiwinini(wag) — the "downstream man (men)" — is a name generally used by the Nipissings and some Algonquins to describe themselves.

The term "Algonquin" has been suggested to derive from the Maliseet word elakómkwik (pronounced [ɛlæˈɡomoɡwik]), "they are our relatives/allies".

The general name for any unspecified non-Iroquoian groups, including the Algonquins, were called "Akwanake"—"Strangers"—by the Iroquoian peoples.

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