Some Natives love the term 'Native American,' while others hate it, and that's OK.

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Between "Indian," "Native American," and "First Nations," there are a lot of catch-all terms that are used to describe North America's indigenous residents. I'm often asked, "which one is the right one?"

The honest answer to this question is that it depends. Each of the catch-all terms is going to have fans and detractors.

The way I've grown to understand it is that "Indian" or "American Indian" is an official term. The US government branch that primarily interacts with tribes is called "The Bureau of Indian Affairs." My tribal ID card says "Cowlitz Indian Tribe" in big letters at the top. I don't hear "Indian" said a ton by my Native friends with the general feeling being that "Indians are from India," though sometimes we'll refer to ourselves as Indians, abbreviated to "NDNs" in email chains and text threads because it feels cool.

"Native American" is the term that I use the most in casual conversation, with it often being shortened to just "Native" out of convenience and for cool points. With that in mind, many Natives find the term "Native American" offensive because associating us with "America" feels like rubbing salt in a wound, which, boy, do I get!

"First Nations" is the Canadian term for folks indigenous to Canada. Sometimes people indigenous to the United States will use the term, but it's officially in reference to our friends north of the border.

"Indigenous" is the most "woke" term to use and it works as a great catch-all to describe any groups originally native to a particular location.

If you want to make everyone happy, your best bet is to refer to people by their tribal affiliation. I'm not "Indian," I'm "Cowlitz," for example. That said, I understand that memorizing nearly a thousand tribal affiliations might be a lot to ask when your mind's already full of fun facts about your favorite "Bachelor" contestants. (Did you know that season 23's Colton Underwood used to play football? So interesting!)

And finally, if you want to make me happy, refer to me as Joey Clift. That's my name!