The second element -gua/gú (or in older Kiowa) is a plural marker. The first part of the name is the element (spelled Kae-, Cáui-, Gáui-, or Gai-) which simply means 'Kiowa'. In the Kiowa language, Kiowa call themselves, spelled variously as Ka'igwu, Cáuigú, Gáuigú, or Gaigwu, most given with the speculated meaning 'Principal People.' JSTOR ( November 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section.

This section needs additional citations for verification. The Kiowa language (Cáuijògà), part of the Tanoan language family, is in danger of extinction, with only 20 speakers as of 2012. Today, they are federally recognized as Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma with headquarters in Carnegie, Oklahoma. In 1867, the Kiowa were moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries, and eventually into the Southern Plains by the early 19th century. ə w ə, - ˌ w ɑː, - ˌ w eɪ/) or Ka'igwa (from their endonym Cáuigú IPA: ) people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. Native American Church, traditional tribal religion, Sun Dance, Christianity

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