Lenape
/ləˈneɪpi/noun
A name for the Indigenous people historically associated with the Delaware River Valley and surrounding regions.
Did you know?Lenape is an autonym—an Indigenous name used by the people themselves—while “Delaware” was an English colonial name later applied to them.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Eastern Algonquian
PEA
*elenyāpe·
“Reconstructed ancestral form associated with a genuine or ordinary person”
Precontact period
Unami
lënape
“Person or people; an autonym used by Unami-speaking communities”
17th Century
Dutch/English records
Lenape
“Recorded name for Indigenous communities of the Delaware Valley”
18th–19th Century
English
Lenni Lenape
“Expanded form meaning approximately “the real people” or “true people,” though translations vary by source”
Modern English
English
Lenape
“The people, their historical language, or their cultural and political identity”
Explore more surprising origins