Sources
open directory project
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Mexican state name etymologies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article provides a collection of the etymologies of the names of the states of Mexico.
| State name | Language of origin | Source word | Meaning and Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aguascalientes | Spanish | aguas calientes | "Hot waters". When the city was first founded in 1575, it was given this name for the abundance of hot springs in the region, which still are exploited for numerous spas and for domestic use. |
| Baja California | Spanish | "Lower California". The Spanish colony of California was divided into two—upper and lower—in 1804. The Mexican territory of Upper California, or Alta California, would in 1848 become the US states of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona and Wyoming. See also: Origin of the name California. | |
| Baja California Sur | Spanish | "Southern Baja California". See also: Origin of the name California. | |
| Campeche | ? | ? | The state takes its name from the city of Campeche, which was founded in 1540 by Spanish Conquistadores as San Francisco de Campeche atop the preexisting Maya city of Canpech or Kimpech. |
| Chihuahua | Nahuatl | xicuahua[verification needed] | The state takes its name from its capital city, Chihuahua. This name is thought to derive from the Nahuatl Xicuahua, or "dry, sandy place".[verification needed] |
| Chiapas | Nahuatl | Chi(y)apan | |
| Coahuila | Nahuatl | ||
| Colima | Nahuatl | Coliman | The state takes its name from its capital city, Colima. |
| Durango | Basque | The state is named after its capital city, Durango, which was named after the city of Durango, Biscay in the Basque Country, northern Spain. During colonial times it was part of the Spanish realm of Nueva Vizcaya, "New Biscay", a province of New Spain. | |
| Guanajuato | P'urhépecha | Quanax Huato[verification needed] | "Froghill".[verification needed] The state is named after its capital city, Guanajuato. |
| Guerrero | Spanish | "Warrior". Named after Vicente Guerrero, a hero of the Mexican War of Independence and an early president of Mexico. The surname Guerrero, meaning "warrior" in Spanish, is derived from guerra "war", a Germanic loanword related to the English word war. | |
| Hidalgo | Spanish | Named after Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, considered the initiator of the Mexican War of Independence in 1810. See also: Hidalgo (Spanish nobility) | |
| Jalisco | Nahuatl | Xālixco | "Place with sand on the ground".[verification needed] |
| México | Nahuatl | Mēxihco | The state is named after Mexico City, itself named after the Aztec capital Mexico Tenochtitlan. |
| Michoacán | Nahuatl | Michhuahcān | "Place of possessors of fish". |
| Morelos | Spanish | Named after José María Morelos, one of the leaders of Mexico's struggle against Spain during the War of Independence. | |
| Nayarit | ? | ? | ? |
| Nuevo León | Spanish | "New Leon". Named after the Kingdom of Leon, one of the historical realms that formed Spain. | |
| Oaxaca | Nahuatl | Huāxyacac | The state is named after the city of Oaxaca. |
| Puebla | Spanish | "People". The state isnamed after its capital city, Puebla. | |
| Querétaro | P'urhépecha | ? | ? |
| Quintana Roo | Spanish | Named after Andrés Quintana Roo, a hero from the War of Independence. | |
| San Luis Potosí | Spanish | Named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí. | |
| Sinaloa | ? | ? | ? |
| Sonora | Opata[verification needed] | xunuta[verification needed] | "In the place of the corn".[verification needed] |
| Tabasco | Nahuatl | ? | "Flooded earth".[verification needed] |
| Tamaulipas | Nahuatl | ? | "Place with high mountains".[verification needed] |
| Tlaxcala | Nahuatl | Tlaxcallān | "Place of Tortillas". The state is named after the capital of Tlaxcala, which is named after the pre-Columbian city-state of Tlaxcallan. |
| Veracruz | Spanish | vera cruz | "True Cross". The state is named after the port of Veracruz. This name was given to the first Spanish city in New Spain by Hernán Cortés in 1519, in the form La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, "The Rich Village of the True Cross". |
| Yucatán | ? | ? | The (probably apocryphal) story goes that when the Spaniards first waded ashore on the Yucatán Peninsula, they asked the members of the local population, who were watching, "What is this place?" The local indígenas, not understanding Spanish, asked "What did you say?" (Yuca-hatlanás?). The Spanish assumed that anyone would understand their language, and took it to be the name. Another legend has it that when Spaniards asked a local native "Where are we?", the native answered "Yuc Atan", meaning "I'm not from here", which Spaniards assumed as the name of the place. |
| Zacatecas | Nahuatl | zacatēcah | "People from the Place of Grass". The state is named after its capital city, Zacatecas. The city was originally called Villa de Nuestra Señora de los Zacatecas, "House of Our Lady of the Zacatecs". |