Spokan
/ˈspoʊkən/noun
A historical variant of Spokane, referring to the Indigenous people and language of the Spokane region in the Pacific Northwest.
Did you know?The popular translation “children of the sun” is widely repeated, but scholars and Spokane sources caution that the name’s original meaning is disputed and may have been reshaped through colonial spelling.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact period
Salish
sp̓q̓ʷaʔ
“A proposed ancestral form associated with the Spokane ethnonym; its exact meaning remains debated.”
18th Century
English records
Spokan
“An early recorded spelling for the Indigenous people living around the Spokane River.”
19th Century
English
Spokane
“A standardized spelling increasingly used for the people, river, and region.”
1881
English
Spokane
“The name was applied to the newly established city in Washington Territory.”
Modern English
English
Spokan
“A historical or variant form of Spokane, especially in ethnographic and historical contexts.”
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