The name 'Wea' is use today as the a shortened version of the many recorded names, it is suggested and written that waayaahtanwa, is derived from waayaahtanonki, 'place of the whirlpool', their name where they were first recorded being seen and is where they were living at that time. The different spellings of their name is numerous with the influx of the many different settler's ethnic and educational backgrounds. One French recording of the name is "Ouiatenon", another "Ouiateno", these were their villages and are now known as Lafayette and Terre Haute Indiana respectively. A marker was placed by the Indiana Historical Bureau in 2004 depicting the presence of the Wea Village in Terre Haute and the living descendants. The Wea spoke a dialect of the same language as the Miami Tribe.