The Aztecs dominated central Mexico for over 200 years, subjugating and bringing under a common order a variety of Mezoamerican city states. The Aztecs are known for their bloody sacrificial cults and warrior prowess, but don’t forget that they also had rich garden cities and a diverse culture. You don’t have to be fluent in the Nahuatl language to construct a cool name, but it certainly helps. And that is why we have gone through the effort of compiling these names for you.
Good Aztec Names
To find a good Aztec name is to imagine a full-blooded character that springs forth once it is spoken. The Nahuatl language, developed halfway across the world from the more familiar Indo-European tongues, has an alien quality (that no doubt our own language sounds to them). This is its greatest strength: its angular names are undeniably so cool to our ears.
- Cuīxtli Itzcua
- Zōlin Tayanna
- Cipac Toxtle
- Ohtli Pancoatl
- Nōchēhuatl Xique
- Tōtōtl Tecaxco
- Xiuhcoatl Memehua
- Izel Nenetl
- Mātlal Chapulin
Noxochicoztli Tetzopa
Nobody had a bad word to say about good old Noxochicoztli. His ability to craft obsidian blades that could chop clean through a cow’s neck struck fear into even those warriors rich enough to afford them.
- Tlazohtzin Cuatli
- Cuīxtli Hueytletl
- Meztli Hueytletl
- Tōchtli Huitle
- Cuetzpalli Xochitecatl
- Necuametl Tlachi
- Xochicotzin Quitl
- Cihuātōn Nocelotl
- Xihuitl Chapul
- Tecolōtl Zeltzin
Tapayaxi Quia
An important priest, high up the rankings of the spiritual hierarchy in the temple of Huitzilopochtli, but it’s not all cutting out hearts. The bulk of his job is using shadows to predict the next eclipse.
- Miyāoaxōchitl Quitl
- Cozamalotl Pancoatl
- Tlālli Atzi
- Mizquixaual Itzmoyotl
- Cualli Itzmoyotl
- Zōlin Itzcua
- Citlali Xicale
- Mahuizoh Cuautli
- Tōtōtl Teutle
- Tlazohtzin Mixca
- Xihuitl Tochimani
- Nahuatl Petlacalco
Female Aztec Names
You could be forgiven for thinking female Aztec names sound softer than their male variants, but you would be wrong. Women in Aztec society held key positions of power, not just in religious institutions and domestically, but in the highest ranks of the imperial court. Bear that in mind when visualizing these proud, strong Aztec women.
- Papan Itzcoatl
- Xocoyotl Coatl
- Tlexictli Huitzil
- Itzel Cuahutenco
- Patli Colexcua
Mahuizoh Aca
Mahuizoh Aca is a professional mourner, and that is why she is currently wailing at the death of the king. As a widow herself, she knows how to cry crocodile tears.
- Tlazohtzin Tecaxco
- Chipahua Papaqui
- Tlahcoēhua Colomoxca
- Yaotl Ocotoxtle
- Tlexictli Huitzil
- Xoco Metztli
- Mizquixāhual Xicale
- Ixchel Tochimani
- Xipil Tolama
Yaotl Xitllali
Yaotl doctors in the imperial court, and she does her job well. She has to. Failure to protect a royal child could compromise even her esteemed position, and the safety of her family.
- Miyāoaxōchitl Ocotoxtle
- Tlahcoēhua Tepetl
- Cuicatl Quia
- Atl Cuatlehua
- Tepin Amaxal
Male Aztec Names
Aztec men were two things: farmers or warriors. Both had an integral role to play in the maintenance of their vast empire (although that didn’t stop the latter from systematically bullying the former). Whenever you picture these men, it is important to place them within the concrete social universe from which they come: give them a job, a function, with both dependencies and dependents.
Ozomatli Quitl
Ozomatli knew his way around the three sisters agricultural system. He knew everything there was to know about the many ways to combine maize, climbing beans and winter squash.
- Necuametl Colexcua
- Cuīxtli Citlalic
- Coātl Zaniyah
- Huitzitl Tlachi
- Ōcēlōtl Tepontla
- Tlālli Tepanecatl
- Cuīxtli Acxotlan
- Ēlōxōchitl Coaxoch
- Tlālli Patee
Mazatl Pancoatl
Preened, well fed and adored by all, everybody would think at first glance like Mazatl had a future in Aztec society. As he walked up the foreboding stone steps to the waiting priest, altar and dagger, he thought nothing.
- Ozomatli Zepahua
- Tōchtli Tlatehui
- Mātlal Papaqui
- Yāōtl Azcatl
- Cuetzpalli Coyol
- Cuetlāchtli Xicale
- Yāōtl Itzmoyotl
- Ōcēlōtl Zitlal
- Tapayaxi Zitlal
Aztec Last Names
Aztec naming traditions, like most pre-modern (read: pre-census and pre-passport) societies, did not have a real concept of a last name. Instead, people were usually signified as being the son of so-and-so, or from such-and-such place. However, as the Nahuatl people were dragged into European modernity via Spanish colonization they began to have to create last names, and it is from these that we have derived the names in this generator.
- Tepetl
- Cocolo
- Patee
- Tocal
- Huitzil
Huepa
The Huepa family dominated the Tecaxco region as a powerful noble clan. They were enmeshed in a network of alliances and rivalries with the most powerful men in the empire.
- Cuatlehua
- Tepontla
- Metztli
- Tlatehui
- Xóchitl
- Memehua
- Coaxoch
- Quitl
- Huitle
- Papaqui
Quetzal
With a generational plot on the outskirts of Tenochtitlan, this family had farmed this beautiful floating garden for generations.
- Tlalolin
- Citlalic
- Chapula
- Acatepec
- Tochihuilt
We cannot thank you enough for reading this article and we hope with all our hearts that you have enjoyed it. We had a blast researching our foray into Aztec naming traditions, and we hope we have given you a few arrows for your quiver so you can explore this wonderful region in your own creative endeavors. Please drop us a comment with your favorite Aztec names and how you’ve used them, and don’t forget to send this article along to anyone you know who might have an Aztec adventure waiting in their imagination.