S'Klallam
/ˈsklæləm/noun
A member of an Indigenous people of the northwestern Olympic Peninsula and nearby areas of Washington State, or their Salishan language.
Did you know?S'Klallam is an English spelling of an Indigenous self-name associated with the Klallam people, whose traditional territory includes Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and nearby waters.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact period
Straits Salish
nəxʷsƛ̓áy̓əm
“The Klallam people's self-name, commonly interpreted as “strong people””
18th–19th Century
Straits Salish
x̣lə́ləm̓ / related forms
“Indigenous forms recorded or reconstructed in connection with the Klallam ethnonym”
19th Century
English
Clallam
“An early anglicized spelling used in colonial, cartographic, and administrative records”
19th–20th Century
English
Klallam
“A common English spelling for the people and their language”
20th Century–present
English
S'Klallam
“A modern spelling representing the people's preferred name in many institutional and community contexts”
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