"These days, an Indian name usually is a second name. A person's first name typically is a Christian name. My ex-husband is Hidatsa, from New Town, N.D., on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Here is what he told me about naming: Children are given a name as a child. When they get older, they are given a permanent, adult Indian name.

That Indian name often is a name that "fits" the person as an adult. Maybe by this time, the person has accomplishments that make him or her outstanding. Their Indian name likely would come from that.

In my Sahnish or Arikara family, we were given Christian names as children and those are the names we carry throughout our lives. Of our family, only the first three children also were given Indian names. My folks got caught up in daily living, and the remaining 10 children weren't given Indian names until much later.

The Sahnish grandmothers told us that names were to bring us strength and power. The spirit of whoever we were named after would intercede for us with the Creator - much like the baptismal or confirmation names of churches."

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DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Watch for Hurricane Medicine Rattler Woman (The Grand Forks Herald 10/25)

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