Today, I found somebody defending the honour of the Sentinelese on Wikipedia, and wanted to share.

Good Day, Fellow Editors--

I got to thinking about the name of this article, and I think it could be problematic. The people who inhabit North Sentinel island surely do not call themselves "North Sentinelese" or even "Sentinelese" altogether.

Shouldn't this article's name instead refer to the people who inhabit the place, instead of naming the people after the place? Naming people after the place they inhabit reeks of colonialism. In the United States, for example, it is increasingly common to refer to indigenous peoples by the names they use, not the names assigned to them by colonial powers. (I.E., typing "Chippewa" into Wikipedia's search bar appropriately redirects to the article "Ojibwe".)

Obviously, the People inhabiting North Sentinel Island have not told the outside world what they call themselves--if they refer to themselves as any proper noun at all--but we still owe them respect in our academic circles by naming them in a respectful manner. This also has the peripheral benefit of increasing familiarity with contemporary naming conventions.

I therefore propose to rename this article: "Peoples of North Sentinel Island" and remove all references to "Sentinelese," "North Sentinelese," etc.

I don't ordinarily make substantive contributions to Wikipedia; please let me know your thoughts and be constructive in your critcism.

Best, [Redacted]

There is no colonialism in the use of the name "Sentinelese." It is the world's tolerance for their culture of killing and crucifying anyone who steps foot on their island that ensures that we might never know what they call themselves. Replacing that name with the pointlessly wordy "Peoples of North Sentinel Island" does nothing for the Sentinelese or for the utility of Wikipedia, and this person only wants to do it to show they're an ally to people who would murder them on principle if they were foolish enough to offer their friendship in person.