Ute is classed as a Uto-Aztecan language belonging to the Numic branch. It is therefore closely related to the Comanche, Shoshone, Panamint, Mono, northern Paiute and Chemehuevi languages. It is also very distantly related to the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs.

The word paa in Ute means water; this word is practically identical in all the Numic languages mentioned above and gives the tribal name Paiute (really paa-Ute or water Ute).

The Ute people call themselves nuutsiu, meaning simply "people". It was the Spanish who first called them Yuta, from which the modern name Ute (and Utah) derives.

There are two today.

One is the Southern Ute Tribe.

The other is the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Yes it is the Ute Mountain Ute. This is not a typo.