Cocopah
/ˈkoʊ.kə.pɑː/noun
A member of an Indigenous people traditionally living along the lower Colorado River in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
Did you know?Cocopah is an English form of Spanish Cocopá, while the people’s own name is commonly rendered as Kwapa; popular translations such as “river people” are not universally accepted by scholars.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-colonial period
Cocopah language
Kwapa
“A traditional self-designation of the people; its precise original analysis is debated.”
16th–17th Century
Spanish
Cocopá
“A Spanish rendering used for the Indigenous people encountered in the lower Colorado River region.”
18th Century
Spanish
Cucapá
“An established Spanish variant of the ethnonym, still used in Mexico.”
19th Century
English
Cocopah
“The English form adopted for the people and their language.”
Modern English
English
Cocopah
“The name of the Cocopah people, their language, and the Cocopah Indian Tribe.”