Paiute (sometimes written Piute) refers to two related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Nevada and Oregon, and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California, and Nevada, and Utah, who spoke languages belonging to the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family of Native American languages. The use of the name "Paiute" for these peoples is misleading. The Northern Paiute are more closely related to the Shoshone than to the Southern Paiute; the Southern Paiute are more closely related to the Ute than to the Northern Paiute.