Which One Is It? AIAN, Native, Indigenous?

I will use American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Tribal, Native, Native American, and Indigenous interchangeably.
American Indian and Alaska Native is how we are named in federal U.S. policies. I typically revert to this in writings.
The National Congress of American Indians provides an official definition of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Native American:
- American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) = Persons belonging to the tribal nations of the continental United States (American Indians) and the tribal nations and villages of Alaska (Alaska Natives).
- Native American = All Native people of the United States and its trust territories (i.e., American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Chamorros, and American Samoans), as well as persons from Canadian First Nations and Indigenous communities in Mexico and Central and South America who are U.S. residents.
Many Native people identify by their tribal affiliations versus identification as AIAN.
In conversations, it is appropriate to ask what tribal nation/s are you affiliated with?
- Visibly ethnic AIANs are mistaken as belonging to other ethnic groups. In Colorado, my relatives with dark features were often assumed to be Latinx. Many tribal reservations are in states with a large number of Latinx. I have AIAN friends that married a Latinx partner and have children that are AIAN and Latinx. It is best not to assume.