What is the origin of the name Wenatchee?

💡 Wenatchee comes from the Wenatchi tribe.

💡 Wenatchi is a term that comes from another tribe, not the Wenatchi themselves.

💡 There are multiple possible meanings for the word.

Wenatchee means a lot to the people that live here. It is more than the name of a town, but represents the beauty, the industry, and the people that live here. But have you ever thought deeply about where the name Wenatchee comes from, and what it means?

"Wenatchee" comes from the Wenatchi Tribe

If you've lived in Wenatchee for any substantial amount of time, you already know that the name comes from the Wenatchi (šnp̍əšqʷáw̉šəxʷ), the native peoples that called this area home.

However, there's more to the name Wenatchi than you'd think.

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Wenatchi is a name created by the Yakama

The Wenatchi call themselves P’Squosa, the "people in between." It was the Yakama, a neighboring tribe, which called them Winátshapam, named after the Wenatchapam Fishery that the people relied on. There are actually six bands of the Wenatchi, of which P’Squosa were just one.

Image courtesy the University of Washington Digital Collections.

What does Wenatchee (Wenatchi) mean?

Winátsha - or "Wenatchi" - means "river flowing from a canyon" in Yakama-Sahaptin, according to Britannica.

In an article from the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, the author adds additional potential definitions:

• A Wenatchi living in Olalla Canyon claimed it means “Great Opening Out of the Mountain”
• Another historian’s translation was “River Issuing from the Canyon”.
• John Gellatly’s 1962 book, A History of Wenatchee, The Apple Capital of the World, claimed legends called it "Place of the Rainbow," "Meeting of the Rivers," "Good Place," or "Boiling Waters."

What became of the Wenatchi?

KW3 offers insight into where the people of Wenatchi have gone.

Mary Big Bull Lewis reminds everyone that the Wenatchi are "still here."

The Wenatchi Advisory Board exists to continue representing and advocating for the Wenatchi/P’Squosa people.