In the local Lushootseed Salish indigenous language, it may mean either "people" or "hunter".

The Sammamish (tsah-PAHBSH) people were a Coast Salish Native American tribe in the Sammamish River Valley in central King County, Washington. Their name is variously translated as "meander dwellers"" or "willow people." They were also known to early European-American settlers as "Squak", "Simump", and "Squowh."Also Wilma (2003) They were closely related to the Duwamish, and have often been considered a Duwamish sub-group as part of the "People of the Large Lake" who lived near Lake Washington.