Editing Blackfoot Confederacy (section)

=== Ethnic divisions ===
The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the ''Piegan'', also spelled ''Peigan'' or ''Pikuni''.  Their name derives from the Blackfoot term ''Piikáni''.  They are divided into the [[Piikani Nation]] (''Aapátohsipikáni'' ("the companion up there") or simply ''Piikáni'') in present-day Alberta, and the [[South Peigan]] or [[Piegan Blackfeet]] (''Aamsskáápipikani'') in Montana, United States. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans")<ref>{{cite web |url=http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05082007-144843/unrestricted/02MAThesis.pdf |author=Linda Matt Juneau |title=The Humans of Blackfeet: Ethnogenesis by Social and Religious Transformation |year=2002 |access-date=16 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219234240/http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05082007-144843/unrestricted/02MAThesis.pdf |archive-date=19 December 2014 }}</ref> of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan.

The modern [[Kainai Nation]] is named for the Blackfoot-language term ''Káínaa'', meaning "Many Chief people".  These were historically also called the "Blood," from a [[Plains Cree language|Plains Cree]] name for the Kainai: ''Miko-Ew'', meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe.

The [[Siksika Nation]]'s name derives from ''Siksikáwa,'' meaning "Those of like".  The Siksika also call themselves ''Sao-kitapiiksi,'' meaning "Plains People".<ref>[https://www.blackfeetnationstore.com/coins/coinlinks.html Informational Sites on the Blackfoot Confederacy and Lewis & Clark] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103210622/https://www.blackfeetnationstore.com/coins/coinlinks.html |date=3 January 2011 }}, Blackfeet Nation Store</ref>

The [[Sarcee people|Sarcee]] call themselves the ''Tsu T'ina,'' meaning "a great number of people." During early years of conflict, the Blackfoot called them ''Saahsi'' or ''Sarsi'', "the stubborn ones", in their language.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the [[Athabascan]] or [[Dené]] language family, most of whose members are located in the [[Subarctic peoples|Subarctic]] of [[Northern Canada]].  Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the [[Beaver (Danezaa)]] people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had").

The [[Gros Ventre people]] call themselves the ''Haaninin'' ("white clay people"), also spelled ''A'aninin.'' The French called them ''Gros Ventres'' ("fat bellies"), misinterpreting a physical sign for waterfall; and the English called them the Fall Indians, related to waterfalls in the mountains. The Blackfoot referred to them as the ''Piik-siik-sii-naa'' ("snakes") or ''Atsina'' ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity.  Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the [[Arapaho]] Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming.<ref>"The Blackfoot Tribes", ''Science'' 6, no. 146 (20 November 1885), 456–458, {{JSTOR|1760272}}.</ref>  They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter.