Navajo Leaders Bar Vote on Changing Tribal Name to Dine
The Navajo Nation Council on Thursday rebuffed an effort to let members of the tribe decide whether to change its name to Dine.
The council decided on a 42-11 vote not to consider the change proposed by Navajo President Peterson Zah. Dine (pronounced dih-NEH) means “the People” in Navajo.
Supporters of the name change cite ethnic and cultural identity, since the word Navajo was coined by outsiders. They wanted the change to be voted on by the 160,000 members of the Navajo Nation, which spans 27,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
Some believe that the word Navajo has pueblo Indian or Spanish roots, said Duane Beyal, a Zah spokesman. “The meanings would range from ‘thieves’ and ‘raiders’ to ‘knife’ to ‘people with large planted fields,’ depending on which origin you choose to believe in,” he said.
Other Navajos said that they see the change as cosmetic and that the tribe should worry about pressing problems, such as education.
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