Thus the entire name means “he is one who frowns like a lord”. The name Moctezuma is a compound of a noun meaning “lord” and a verb meaning “to frown in anger”. After him, Moctezuma I ascended to the throne and ruled from 1440 till his death in 1469. His name meant “obsidian serpent” and he ruled from 1427 to 1440. The first emperor of the Aztec Empire was Itzcoatl who laid down the foundations of the empire along with important laws and customs. Not just the names of the ordinary people but the names of the Aztec gods and goddesses also had specific meanings attached to them.įor instance, the names and meanings of some of the most important Aztec gods included the shaman god Tezcatlipoca which means “smoking mirror”, the god of life and wind Quetzalcoatl which means “feathered serpent”, the god of rain and water Tlaloc which means “of the earth”, the tribal god of many of the Nahua people Mixcoatl which means “cloud serpent”, and the tribal god of the Mexica people Huitzilopochtli which means “left-handed hummingbird”.Īztec names and meanings of some other Aztec gods include the goddess of earth Tlaltecuhtli which means “earth lord”, the goddess of springs Chalchiuhtlicue which means “jade her skirt”, god of fertility and patron god of the goldsmiths Xipe Totec which means “our flayed lord”, the god of happiness and flowers Xochipilli which means “flower prince” and so on. Sometimes, it was the name of some Aztec god and other times the name could refer to some valuable object or an important aspect of nature in the Nahuatl language. Whether it was the name of the emperor or a common person, it had specific meaning attached to it. It is impossible to find an Aztec name which did not have any meaning at all. Aztec Names and Aztec LanguageĪztecs spoke Nahuatl language and the Aztec names, of course, had definite meaning in the Nahuatl language. Thus some common Aztec names for women include Meztli which means “moon”, Moyolehuani which means “enamoured one”, Noxochicoztli which means “my necklace of flowers”, Patli which means “medicine”, Teicuih which means “younger sister”, Teoxihuitl which means “precious and divine”, tlalli which means “earth”, Xiuhtonal which means “precious light”, and so on. Aztec Women NamesĪztec names for women were also along the same lines, inspired by the names of various Aztec goddesses in addition to other concepts. Thus other than using the names of various gods as inspiration, the Aztec names could simply be the names of different objects of nature or a simple praise. Some examples of Aztec names for men include Etalpalli which means “wing”, Iccauhtli which means “younger brother”, Mahuizoh which means “glorious person”, Namacuix which means “king”, Milintica which means “fire”, Nopaltzin which means “cactus”, Quauhtli which means “eagle”, and so on. Just like the name of boys, Aztec men name also drew inspiration from the names of gods, religious concepts, and a variety of things of nature. For instance, Ixchel was also name of the goddess of earth, moon, and medicine. The names were often inspired by the names of goddesses. The names which were reserved for girls included Chalchiuhticue which means “jade skirt”, Cihuaton which means “little woman”, Ixchel which means “rainbow lady”, Nenetl which means “doll”, and so on. Examples of such Aztec names are Achcauhtli meaning “leader” or Atl meaning “water”. There were some Aztec names which could be given to both boys and girls. Thus boys in the Aztec Empire had such names as Achcauhtli which means “leader”, Amoxtli which means “protection” or “shelter”, Atl which means “water”, Chimalli which means “shield”, Coaxoch which means “serpent flower”, Cuixtli which means “kite”, Eztli which means “blood”, and so on. ![]() Both these facts influenced the Aztec names. ![]() The Aztec empire was a military empire and the people were deeply religious. With the establishment of the Aztec Empire, more emphasis was given on military virtues and religion and thus such names became more important. ![]() Nonetheless, they gave a variety of names to their children based on their religious concepts. For instance, with the establishment of the empire and a system of nobility, common people could not use the names of the emperors. The history of Aztec names drew its inspiration from the empire itself and the religious concepts of the Aztecs.
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