Native American Names?

I have a question about Native American Names. How do you find one?

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This thread has been moved to Misc Topics from Other Paths.

Thanks.

Is your question, "how do I find my Native American name?"
Or is it, "how do I find the Native American name of my ancestor?"

The answer to the first is you don't. If you are not a member of a First Nations tribe, you should not have a First Nations name at all, because you are not of a First Nations tribe. If you are of the First Nations per the language of the law and per the language of your tribe, you would receive the name from/within your tribe. You can find this out through genealogy research and use the data to find if your tribe has a community and any bloodline requirements. If you are white (aka not First Nations), you have no reason to have this name and it is highly inappropriate and it is an appropriation of First Nations cultures.

If you are asking about finding an ancestor's name, you would research what tribe they belong to and inquire there. Someone may know what the name was.

If you are not a tribal member of one of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and I'm guessing you mean North America here, it is considered very poor manners to try to take on a tribal name or tribal practices.

Understand that these indigenous peoples have had so much stolen from them over the years, their land, their culture, their languages, and their religion, they are very sensitive to what they perceive as another attempt on the part of non-natives to again take what is not rightfully theirs.

There are no generic "Native American" names. Names would vary from tribe to tribe based on their particular beliefs and practices. What a Lakota might call a child would be different from a a member of the Dineh, or from a Leni-lenape. And has already been mentioned, in general tribal names are given when the young person is deemed to have gained adulthood and as part of a tribal rite of passage.

i'm confused what you mean too. Native American names like 'Pocahontas' or 'Tecumseh'? do you mean tribe names like 'Blackfoot' or 'Cherokee'? do you mean research into your genealogy because you heard your great-great grandmother was half Native? do you mean find you name like your 'spirit animal' or 'magickal name'?

if you're looking for your tribal/native name there's no thing really. many Native sounding names were given to them by their parents. [you may receive a special name similar to a magickal name in certain regions through a spirit quest, but as far as i'm aware that isn't a thing] if it's genealogical there's a few options. ancestry.com for example, your local library might have either a genealogy section or a genealogy club that could assist you. then there's always talking to older family members and piecing your family tree together. keep in mind if your family has lived in North America long enough you will very likely have one native relative somewhere but this doesn't mean you should go around bragging about your native heritage [coming from someone who's 30% Metis/Abenaki it's not only feels insulting when someones like 'i have a distant relative who's native therefore i'm native' and yet doesn't know the first thing about the culture or current issues plaguing the community. as with being a Witch, it's not as cool as movies make it appear. in Canada we have a real issue with suicide rates and woman going missing/murdered. plus many places have unsafe drinking water]

if you mean specific tribe names, you could type that into google. same goes if you're interested in Shamanism or Native culture and wish to learn more. google's your friend.

To clarify:
A name, like a Magical Name
for practice purposes.

SereneJay, in that case, please refer to Larks comment.

yea theres no such thing. an 'indigenous sounding name' isn't something you reach a certain age and go 'i'm Dakota Runningbear now' they get their 'native sounding name' from their parents. you might consider a vision quest [perhaps research if anyone has spiritual retreats you could go on] this way you might find your spirit guide/animal, at the very least learn something about yourself. if you wish to have a 'native' name, you could look into creating a magickal name for yourself instead. but i would also research a bit, so you know for certain why you want a 'native' name instead of 'look how cool i am' reasons. [which will undoubtedly upset people]