The denomination for which the present inhabitants of the Apiaká Indigenous Land are known and recognize themselves has been applied to them since the beginning of the 19th Century. It is a variation of the Tupi word apiaba, which means “person”, “people”, “human being”, and therefore was not originally a name. Their Kayabí neighbors call them Tapy'iting or Tapii'sin, meaning "people of light skin".

Language. The Apiaká language belongs to the Tupi-Guarani family, just as their Kayabí neighbors. The Apiaká, however, no longer speak it: they use Portuguese. But the Mundurukú and Kayabí who live alongside them still speak their own languages.