The Míkmaq are a First Nations (aboriginal) people, indigenous to northeastern New England, Canada's Atlantic Provinces, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec.

The nation has a population of about 40,000 of whom nearly 11,000 speak the Algonquian language Lnuísimk, more commonly known as "Micmac".

Once written in Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing, Lnuísimk is now written using most letters of the standard Latin alphabet.Their name has traditionally been spelled Micmac in English, but the natives have used different spellings: Mi’kmaq (singular Mi’kmaw) by the Míkmaq of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, Miigmaq (Miigmao) by the Míkmaq of New Brunswick, Mi’gmaq by the Listuguj Council in Quebec, or Mìgmaq (Mìgmaw) in some native literature.

Until the 1980s, "Micmac" remained the most common spelling in English.

Although still used, for example, in Ethnologue, this spelling has fallen out of favor in recent years.

Most scholarly publications use the preferred native spelling of Mi'kmaq.

The Míkmaq prefer to use one of the three current Míkmaq orthographies when writing in English or French.

They consider the English spelling to be "colonially tainted."