History of French and is a lingua franca in some regions, notably in Africa. The legacy of French as a living language outside Europe is mixed: it is nearly extinct in some former French colonies (Southeast Asia), while the language has changed to creoles, dialects or pidgins in the French departments in the West Indies, even though people there are still educated in standard French. On the other hand, many former French colonies have adopted French as an official language, and the total number of French speakers has increased, especially in Africa. In the Canadian province of Quebec, different laws have promoted the
Canadian name Chief-Moon (Blood), or Whiteknife (Cree). For others, a name in their ancestral language is rendered in English or French spelling such as Tootoosis (Plains Cree), Newashish (Atikamekw), or Yahgulanaas (Haida). Some people have a legal or baptismal name in English or French and separate name in their ancestral language, for example Oronhyatekha (Mohawk) who was also called Peter Martin. For an overview of common Inuit names in Canada see List of Canadian Inuit. Courtesy titles may be used on official documents in Canada, and are frequently used in formal situations such as business correspondence or meetings. As in other English-speaking