These tribes have all abandoned their own languages and adopted the local Aryan vernaculars.

The name Bhuiya is a Sanskrit derivative from _bhu_, earth, and signifies 'belonging to the soil.' Bhumij, applied to a branch of the Kol tribe, has the same origin.

Baiga is used in the sense of a village priest or a sorcerer in Chota Nagpur, and the office is commonly held by members of the Bhuiya tribe in that locality, as being the oldest residents.

Thus the section of the tribe in the Central Provinces appears to have adopted, or been given, the name of the office.

The Bharias or Bharia-Bhumias of Jubbulpore seem to belong to the great Bhar tribe, once dominant over large areas of the United Provinces.