::01

The Canela are composed of five surviving nations of the Eastern Timbira, the largest being the Ramkokamekrá, descendants of the Kapiekran (as they were known until 1820). The name Canela was also utilized by people of the interior for the Apanyekra, and for the Kenkateye, who were massacred and dispersed in 1913. The Kenkateye separated from the Apanyekra around 1860.

The Ramkokamekrá group presently uses the Portuguese name Canela to refer to themselves. Ramkokamekrá means "Indians of the almécega [gum tree] grove". They use the term Me(n)hi(n) to refer to the Eastern Timbira.

Probably the name Canela is a reference to the fact that these Indians are visibly taller - with their long legs -, when compared to the regional population and their neighbors, the Guajajara.

	::02

The Apanyekrá call themselves by this name. They are known in the literature only by this name and its orthographic variations, or even by Apanyekrá-Canela. Apanyekrá means "indigenous people of the piranha". Nimuendajú supposed that they were called by this name because they painted their lower jaw red, recalling an image of this carnivorous fish.