"Waigali" refers to the dialect of the Väi people of the upper part of the Waigal Valley, centered on the town of Waigal, which is distinct from the dialect of the Čima-Nišei people who inhabit the lower valley.

The word 'Kalasha' is the native ethnonym for all the speakers of the southern Nuristani languages.

It is closely related to Zemiaki[3] and to Tregami, the lexical similarity with the latter being approximately 76% to 80%.

The name Kalasha-ala comes from Kalaṣa [kalaˈʂa], a term denoting the Kalash people, which also covers the distantly related Indo-Aryan Kalasha language (Kalaṣa-mun), hence the language is called "Nuristani Kalasha".

The name "Waigali" comes from Vägal [væˈɡal] < Vâigal [vaːi̯ˈɡal], from Vä [ˈvæ] < Vâi [ˈvaːi̯] "Vai" and gal [ˈɡal] "valley".