Yokuts people

The Yokuts (previously known as Mariposans) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Prior to European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 separate tribes speaking the same language.

Some of their descendants prefer to refer to themselves by their respective tribal names and reject the name Yokuts with the claim that it is an exonym invented by English speaking settlers and historians. "Yokuts" means "People." Conventional sub-groupings include the Foothill Yokuts, Northern Valley Yokuts, and Southern Valley Yokuts.