Sugpiaq is the ancestral name of the Alutiiq people, one of eight Alaska Native peoples. The Sugpiaq people have inhabited the coastal environments of south-central Alaska for over 7,500 years. Their traditional homelands include Prince William Sound, the outer Kenai Peninsula, the Kodiak Archipelago, and the Alaska Peninsula.
In their own language, the name they use for themselves is Sugpiaq, which means "true person," or just "Suk," "person". Sometimes they also use the names Koniag or Chugach, which are placenames from their homelands. Today most people refer to themselves as Alutiiq.
The Sugpiaq language is a Pacific Gulf variety of Yupik Eskimo spoken in two dialects from the Alaska Peninsula to Prince William Sound, including Kodiak Island. About 400 of the total population of about 3,000 Alutiiq people still speak the language. The language is closely related to Yup'ik, although speakers of the two languages would have difficulty understanding one another.
