Kwaguł
/ˈkwɑːɡuːɬ/noun
A Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation and Indigenous community historically centered around Fort Rupert in British Columbia, Canada.
Did you know?“Kwaguł” is an Indigenous ethnonym, while “Kwakiutl”—once widely used by outsiders—is actually the name of one related group that colonial sources generalized to describe the broader Kwakwaka’wakw peoples.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact
Kwak’wala
Kwaguł
“The self-designation of a Kwakwaka’wakw people associated historically with Fort Rupert; precise internal word formation is not securely established in standard English etymological references.”
18th–19th Century
Kwak’wala
Kwagu’ł
“A traditional Indigenous ethnonym recorded in forms using the language’s lateral fricative sound, often transliterated as ł.”
19th Century
English
Kwakiutl
“An exonym used by colonial and ethnographic sources, derived from the name of the Kwakiutl/Kwak’wala-speaking people rather than being an exact translation of Kwaguł.”
Late 19th–20th Century
English
Kwaguł
“An ethnographic and administrative spelling used for the specific First Nation and its community.”
Modern English
English
Kwaguł
“The community’s preferred contemporary name, commonly written with the orthographic character ł and associated with the Kwakwaka’wakw cultural and linguistic world.”
Explore more surprising origins