Sherpa, the meaning of Tibetan language is “People from Oriental”. Its ethnic origin has not yet been determined. Among them, the Nepalese scholar Sangjie Tenzin in "Shen Niu Xueguang" and Chinese investigators Chen Naiwen and Tang Rongyao all believe that they are descendants of Xixia, but some scholars have different opinions (other scholars are looking at the complicated factors of the issue, and they will inevitably have different understandings without investigating in person).

Some Tibetan and internal legends say that Sherpas are descendants of the refugee group of the Xixia royal family. They fled to Qamdo during the Mongolian era (in one case it means Qiangdu, Xixia Dangxiang belongs to the ancient Qiang ethnic group), and then lived in the interior of Tibet. For a period, the survival Tibetan sherpa went to the southern Himalayas. Some believe that they originated from the Muya people in Sichuan. The Himalayan Sherpas in China are typical in Zhangmugou, while Chentanggou is controversial.

According to linguistic research, Sherpa belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family. Sherpas in Tibet mainly live in Lixin Village, Xuebugang Village, Zhangmu Township, Nyelam County, and Chentang Town, Dingjie County, or Zhangmu Valley and Chentang Valley.