The Nez Perce people are Nimíipuu. The Nez Perce name was given to the Nimíipuu by the French. It is a French word. I often think that we as Nez Perce should change our names officially to Nimíipuu . Nimíipuu in Nez Perce means “the People,” and “the People” to me means us as honoring one another. The Nez Perce that were in the past were very noble, very proud, very rich and, of course, they were horse people. They were very cultural. A lot of that is still with us and I think we should be very proud as native people.