What does Pomp's name mean?

Answer 1

There is some dispute about the name of Tsakakawia's son, who was born during the Lewis and Clark expedition.

• One version of the story admits that the boy's real name was Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, but Clark named the boy Pomp or Pompy because of his pompous behaviour
• Another version claims that Pomp means "first born" in Shoshone
• Another version claims that Pomp means "leader" in Shoshone
• Another version claims that Pompey is simply an Anglicised version of the Latin name Pompeius - and this version has Clark calling him by that classical name

Linguistic analysis will destroy the idea that Pomp means "first born" - it definitely does not. The Shoshone word pampimeans head (as in the thing on your shoulders), not leader, not chief and not first born. It is by no means certain that this is the word used by his mother.

This is a good example of large numbers of modern websites each quoting another and all giving false information.