Tongva People - Name

Name

The first record of an endonym for the Tongva people was Kizh (also spelled Kij), from 1846. Although subsequent authors equated this with the word for "house" (also often spelled kizh), Hale gives the word for house as kītç in a list where the language was called "Kīj", suggesting that the words were distinct. The term Kizh was generally used at that time to designate the language, and the first comprehensive publication on the language used it.

In 1875, Yarrow indicated that the name Kizh was unknown at Mission San Gabriel, and that the natives called themselves Tobikhar, meaning "settlers", and spoke almost exclusively Spanish. In 1885, Hoffman also referred to the natives as Tobikhar.

The word Tongva was recorded by Merriam in 1903 from a single informant. He spelled it Tong-vā; by his orthography, it would be pronounced /ˈtɒŋveɪ/, TONG-vay.

The name Tongva has become increasingly preferred as a self-designation since the 1990s, although either "Gabrieleño" or "Gabrielino" is used in every official name. The Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council of San Gabriel on their website give a translation of Tongva as "people of the earth", although there is no independent evidence for this.

The Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians have disavowed the name Tongva and accepted Kizh as the correct endonym, and have argued strongly against the use of "Tongva".