::01	There is no self-designation adopted by the Maku as a whole. In reality, they divide into six distinct groups, each one with its own territory, language and self-designation:

With the exception of the Bara, who use the term bara ('tayra') more than the term kakwa ('people') as a self-designation, and also the Kabori, a Nadub subgroup who call themselves kabori ('boys'), all the other Maku use the term 'people' in their respective languages as a self-designation.

The term maku is of Arawak origin, signifying 'serf' or 'savage,' and is rejected by all the Maku groups due to its obvious pejorative connotation. The term maku is maintained here as it has now become firmly established in the ethnographic literature and as there is no other term that designates these Indians as an overall group.

As for the other names, boroa and pohsá mean 'serfs' in the Dahséa and Cubeo languages, respectively, both of the Tukano family. The term peoná, also of Tukano origin, means 'owner of the pathways,' an allusion to the fact that the Maku do not travel by canoe, like the other Indians in the region, but by foot along tracks. The term wirapoyá, used by the Desana (a Tukano subgroup) to designate the neighbouring Maku, means 'ruined Desana.' The origin of the term kamã remains unknown: it also has a pejorative connotation. The term guariba is applied by the regional non-Indian population to the Nadub, in an allusion to their supposed belief that the Indians are related to the monkey of the same name. The term xiruai, 'brother-in-law' in Nheengatu, is the friendly form by which the same population refers to the Nadub.

Due to the influence of the indigenous movement in the region of the Negro River from the middle of the 1980s, the pejorative names (boroa, pohsá, wirapoyá, kamã, guariba and maku itself) are falling into disuse, but until now no generic and neutral name has surfaced.