Winyah

The Winyah ( ) were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands who lived near Winyah Bay, the Black River, and the lower course of the Pee Dee River in South Carolina during the 18th century. In the early 20th century, anthropologist John R. Swanton suggested they had ceased to exist as a distinct group by 1720 and speculated that members of the tribe may have merged with the nearby Waccamaw. However, the Winyah appear thirty-two years later on a 1752 map between the Black River and Pee Dee River. Their ultimate fate remains unknown.

== Etymology == The exact etymological meaning of Winyah is presently unknown, though the tribe's language is generally accepted as Catawban. Anglicized variants include Winyaw, Winyaws, Wanniah, Wyniaws, Weneaws, and Wineaus. Other recorded spellings include Wee Nee and likely Wee Tee. Linguists consider the analysis of these names uncertain; however, anthropologist John R. Swanton and later linguist Blair A. Rudes concluded that they likely correspond to the names Yenyohol or Yenyochol recorded in Spanish accounts of the Ayllón colony in 1526.