Name of Mexico

Name Of Mexico

The name of Mexico entails the origin, history, and use of the name Mexico, which dates back to 14th century Mesoamerica. Mexico was named after its capital, Mexico City, whose original name was Mexico-Tenochtitlan, in reference to the name of the Nahua Aztec tribe, the Mexica. The Nahuatl word Mēxihco is composed of the root Mexi, which means "beard of feathers" and a suffix -co that means "place of the serpent." The full name of the city, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, makes reference to the image of the eagle perched on a cactus with a serpent in its claws and beak, in the middle of Lake Texcoco. This image is represented in Mexico's coat of arms and flag, and is consistent with reverence for the Feathered Serpent, known as Quetzalcoatl amongst the Mexica.

The official name of the country is the "United Mexican States" (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos), since it is a federation of thirty-one states. The official name was first used in the Constitution of 1824, and was retained in the constitutions of 1857 and 1917. Informally, "Mexico" is used along with "Mexican Republic" (República Mexicana). On 22 November 2012, outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderón proposed changing the official name of the country to simply México.