The Gispwudwada is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" (phratry) in the language

Coast Tsimshian

Coast Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'algyax, is a Tsimshianic language spoken by the Tsimshian nation in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska...

 of the Tsimshian

Tsimshian

The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...

 nation of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, and southeast Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. It is considered analogous or identical to the Gisgahaast (variously spelled; also Gisk'aast) clan in British Columbia's Gitksan nation and the Gisk'ahaast/Gisk'aast Tribe of the Nisga'a

Nisga'a

The Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga’a language as Nisga’a, are an Indigenous nation or First Nation in Canada. They live in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. Their name comes from a combination of two Nisga’a words: Nisk’-"top lip" and...

. The Nisga'a also call this group the Killerwhale Tribe, though the Gitksan use the term Fireweed clan; Gisgahaast means literally "people of the fireweed."

The name Gispwudwada is of unknown etymology.

The chief crests of the Gispwudwada are the Killerwhale (a.k.a. orca

Orca

The killer whale , commonly referred to as the orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas...

) (neexł in Tsimshian) and Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear

The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...

 (midiik).

Tsimshian matrilineal houses belonging to the Gispwudwada tend to belong to one of two groups, the Git'mlaxam and the Gitnagwinaks.

Git'mlaxam

The Git'mlaxam trace their origins to the legendary Temlaxam (a.k.a. Temlaham, Dimlahamid, etc.) or "Prairie Town" on the Skeena River

Skeena River

The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada . The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the...

 in what is now Gitksan territory. The Git'mlaxam can be further subdivided.

Git'mlaxam house-groups among the Tsimshian include the royal House of Ts'ibasaa in the Gitkxaała (Kitkatla

Kitkatla

The Kitkatla are one of the 14 bands of the Tsimshian nation of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla , on Dolphin Island, a small island just by Porcher Island off the coast of northern B.C. Because of this they have sometimes been called Porcher...

) tribe.

Gitnagwinaks

The Gitnagwinaks (sometimes spelled Nagunaks) trace their migrations southward, to the vicinity of the Kitasoo

Kitasoo

The Kitasoo are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian people in Canada, who inhabit, along with Xai'xais people of Heiltsuk ethnic affiliation, the village of Klemtu, British Columbia. The name Kitasoo derives from the Tsimshian name Gidestsu, from git- and disdzuu, which refers to a large,...

 Tsimshians at Klemtu, B.C. In a discussion of the Bear Mother myth, the anthropologist Marius Barbeau

Marius Barbeau

Charles Marius Barbeau, , also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology...

 in 1950 published information recorded by the Tsimshian ethnologist William Beynon

William Beynon

William Beynon was a hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation and an oral historian who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists....

 from his fellow Gitlaan

Gitlaan

The Gitlaan are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C...

 Tsimshian E. Maxwell which describes a dispute among the Kitasoo Gispwudwada house-heads Wuts'iint, Dzagmsagisk, and T'amks as to ownership of certain crest privileges, resulting in migration to Kitkatla

Kitkatla

The Kitkatla are one of the 14 bands of the Tsimshian nation of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla , on Dolphin Island, a small island just by Porcher Island off the coast of northern B.C. Because of this they have sometimes been called Porcher...

, Gitwilgyoots

Gitwilgyoots

The Gitwilgyoots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C...

, and Gitlaan

Gitlaan

The Gitlaan are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams , B.C...

 tribes of Tsimshians.

The following Gitnagwinaks crests are listed:

• Grizzly Bear of the Sea (midiigm ts'm 'aks)
• Double-Finned Killerwhale (wüsngoopskinm née'x 'neexł)
• Killerwhale with Fins All Around (txatkunee'xs)
• Ligidadools, wife of the monster chief of the Nagwinaks

Nisga'a - Gisk'ahaast (People among the Fireweed)

House groups of Gisk'ahaast among the Nisga'a, with the English name of the current head of the house, include:

• House of Ẁii Seeks - Ivan Mercer (Wii Seeks is the Head Killerwhale house in the Nass River Valley)
  • *** this house group has some ties to the Tlingit :
• Crests of Wii Seeks: Hlguwilksihlgum Neekhl (Prince Killerwhale, Hlguwilksihlgum Matx (Prince Mountain Goat), Midiigim Tsa Wii Aks/Midiigim Ts'im Aks (Grizzly Bear of the Water, A Royal T'imlaxaam Crest), Ganim/Gadim Xts'im Aws Pole/man in the sand, Hloksim Misaax (Sun), Hloksim Axkw (Moon), Bilist (Star), Maxmak'ay known to us as Niigansgi ceremonily represention of Rainbow,
• House of Ẁisinxbiĺtkw - Andrew Mercer
• the late Ẁii Lisims (Frank Calder
  Frank Arthur Calder
  Frank Arthur Calder, was a Nisga'a politician in Canada, the first Status Indian to be elected to any legislature in Canada....
  
  ) was from this House
• House of Masgum Ban - (Previously Oliver Woods)this family Belongs to Wilps Wisin Xbiltkw
• House of Daaxan - Perry Azak
  • • • Git-Ala-Bit Clan:
      • House of Ni'isýuus - Willard Martin
      • House of Siisbiguut - Harold Watts
      • House of Akshl Hlyoon - Collier Azak
• House of K'amksiiwaa - (Previously James Stevens) Jimmy Stewart will call K'amksiiwaa
• Ẁii Laxha - Hubert Stevens, K'amksiiwaa's Family was orignaly from Wii Seeks House

The Nisga'a no longer rank their chieftains as "Head Chief" of a Tribe.