The Oneida people are a Native American tribe and First Nations band. They are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York, particularly near the Great Lakes.

Originally the Oneida lived in what is now central New York, particularly around Oneida Lake and Oneida County. Today the Oneida have four federally recognized nations: the Oneida Indian Nation in New York, the Oneida Nation in and around Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the United States; and two in Ontario, Canada: Oneida at Six Nations of the Grand River and Oneida Nation of the Thames in Southwold.

The name Oneida is derived from the English pronunciation of Onyota’a:ka, the people’s name for themselves. Onyota’a:ka means “People of the Standing Stone”. This identity is based on an ancient legend. Individuals born into the Oneida Nation are identified according to their spirit name, or what may be called an Indian name, their clan, and their family unit within a clan. The people have a matrilineal kinship system, and children are considered to be born into the mother’s clan, through which descent and inheritance passes. Each gender, clan, and family unit within a clan has particular duties and responsibilities in the tribe.

Resource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida_people#Literature