r/AskHistorians • u/Throwawaytx75 • Oct 31 '25

In English, there is a phonetic similarity between the name of the Native American tribe the “Yokuts” of central California, and the “Yakuts” people of Siberia, given migration along the Bering ice sheets is the name part of a shared oral tradition or coincidence?

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u/Draig_werdd Oct 31 '25

It's very likely just a coincidence. First of all Yakut is not the name used by the actual ethnic group. They call themselves Sakha with the name Yakut being most likely a Russian version of a name used either by Evenki (yekə̄) or by the Buryats (yaqud). Additionally the Sakha's are Turkic speaking population meaning that at least some part of their origin is not from the region and they migrated north at some later point.

We don't know the exact date Native Americans reached America but it happened at least 12000 years ago, but very likely even earlier. While there were some later migration (one that left genetic traces in the speakers of Na-Dene languages about 9000 to 5000 years ago) and the Inuit migration, there is nothing connecting the Yokuts with any of these later movements. So it would mean that any name connection would have survived for at least 12000 years between them and whoever was first called Yakut by the Evenki or the Buryats. That's highly unlikely.