The name Cowasuck comes from the Abenaki word Goasek and means "white pines place", the name of an area near Newbury, Vermont. The members of the tribe were called Goasi, plural Goasiak, which means "the people of the white pines". Variant names of the place are Koés in French and Cohass, Cohoss, or Coos in English, and an alternate demonym is Cohassiac. The Cowasuck, also known as Cowass, was an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe in northeastern North America, linguistically and culturally belonging to the Western Abenaki as well as being members of the Abenaki Confederation. Today, the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People also known as Cowass North American, a nonprofit corporation, claims to be the encompassing organization of these peoples descendants.