The Algonquins (or Algonkins) are an aboriginal North American people speaking Algonquin, an Anishinaabe language. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa and Ojibwe, with whom they form the larger Anicinàpe grouping. The Algonquin peoples call themselves either Omàmiwinini (plural: Omàmiwininiwak) or the more generalised name of Anicinàpe. --------------------------------------------- The term "Algonquin" derives from the Maliseet word elakómkwik , "they are our relatives/allies".The tribe has also given its name to the much larger, heterogeneous group of Algonquian-speaking peoples who stretch from Virginia to the Rocky Mountains and north to Hudson Bay. Most Algonquins, however, live in Quebec; the nine Algonquin bands in that province and one in Ontario have a combined population of about 11,000. (Popular usage reflects some confusion on the point, in that the term "Algonquin" is sometimes used—for example in this entry in the Catholic Encyclopaedia—to refer to all Algonquian-speaking societies).