"Mexica" was the name used by the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, now commonly referred to as Aztecs, for themselves as a people. They said that, during the years when their ancestors wandered on their way to the Valley of Mexico, the patron god Huitzilopochtli gave them this name. Scholars do not agree on what meaning Mexica had. Some link the word to the moon (meztli), others to the word for the maguey plant (metli), still others to the word for cloud (mixtli).
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