chayan

This name means “little Shahi, little Cree”. The name comes into English in the form “Chaiena”, a direct rendering of Siouan Dakota (dialect) Šahíyena (1890), corresponding to Lakota (dialect) Šahíyela. This is the regular diminutive of Šahíya, the name of the Cree. So the Cheyenne are called the "little cree" (by the Soux). The Cree are one of the largest groups of first nations / Native Americans in North America, with over 200,000 members living in Canada. In the United States, this Algonquian-speaking people historically lived from lake superior westward. Today, they live mostly in Montana, where they share a reservation with the Ojibwe (Chippewa).