Our Tahltan names are inherited. Names belong to specific Family groups. That means that names are either Wolf or Crow. A child's name comes from the mother's side of the family. If a child's mother was from the Tlogoten Family, then the child's name would be taken from that Family. If the mother was Nawthcoten, then the child would have the right to a name from that Family, and so on. In addition to the Family names, our names could be taken from two directions, North or South. The Wolf clan had the right to use names relating to the North. The Crow Clan had rights to anything South. Names could be anything to do with warm or cold winds, northern lights, and so on.

The Crow clan had rights to any names related to the Stikine River and its tributaries. The Wolf clan had rights to any water that did not run immediately into the Stikine River.

Long ago, each person used to change names 3 times throughout their lifetime. In rare cases, a person might be given four names.

The first name was given at birth and is the baby name. This name tells which family the child belongs to.

Later, between eight and fifteen years, the child is given a second name. This name is more important than the baby name. If the child is a boy, his uncle on his mother's side names him. That is because he is his uncle's heir and will inherit from his uncle. If the child is a girl, the mother's sisters (the girl's aunt), names her. From that time, the baby name is not used anymore, except as a nickname by the child's family. With more wealthy people, this name is given at the time of a feast.

A third, more important name, is taken by an adult later in life. It may be the name inherited when a relative died. The inherited name would be taken at the memorial potlatch when the estate was being settled.

A fourth, most honourable name, might be taken in later life. This name would be a powerful name. It might be the name of a powerful medicine man, for example. At this type of naming ceremony, the person would give a potlatch. Gifts would be given to the opposite clan. The more important the name, the more valuable the gifts given. Sometimes, the person gave away almost all of their belongings in this ceremony. It was believed that the honour of the name was worth the cost.

At present we have no rules for choosing our Euro-asian name, our Canadian name. Often, though, we name our children after members of the family.

We try to choose our Indian names following the rules above. And we usually give a child only one Tahltan name. Choosing Tahltan names is rather difficult since we do not have records of baby or young child names. We have only our ancestors' adult names.

There is no rule for when to give the child a Tahltan name. Some of us got our Tahltan name only when we were adults. Sometimes we give our babies their Indian name soon after birth. One of our Tahltan families has given all of his children Tahltan names as their first names.