Chicano names

Nahuatl symbol for xōchitl, a flower. Xochitl is one of the most common names adopted by Chicanos after the Chicano Movement.[1][2]

Chicano naming practices formed out of the cultural pride that was established in the Chicano Movement.[1][3] This motivated some Chicanos to adopt Indigenous Mexican names, often Aztec (or Nahuatl) in origin, for themselves and their children, rather than Spaniard names,[1] which were first imposed onto Indigenous Mexico in the 16th century through the Spanish colonization of the Americas.[4] The other significant development in naming that emerged from the Chicano Movement was to inspire Chicanos not to anglicize their names, maintaining Spanish spellings and pronunciations.[1][3]

  1. ^ a b c d Peña, Manuel (2010-07-22). "The 'Chicano Renaissance'" (eBook). The Mexican American Orquesta: Music, Culture, and the Dialectic of Conflict. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78610-3.
  2. ^ Castillo, Ana (2014-12-01). Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma. 20th Anniversary Updated Edition. UNM Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-8263-5359-7.
  3. ^ a b Reich, Alice B.; Reich, Alice Higman (1989). The Cultural Construction of Ethnicity: Chicanos in the University. AMS Press. pp. 80–84. ISBN 978-0-404-19471-0.
  4. ^ Camacho, Julián Segura (2005). The Chicano Treatise. University Press of America. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7618-2923-2.