The family name was sometimes derived from a locality, sometimes from a peculiarity, and at others from astrological motives.[1]
The personal name was always that of the day of birth, this being adopted for astrological reasons. There was a fixed opinion that the temperament and fortunes of the individual were controlled by the supposed character of his birthday, and its name and number were therefore prefixed to his family name. This explains the frequent occurrence in the Cakchiquel Annals of such strange appellatives as Belehe Queh, nine deer; Cay Batz, two monkey, etc.; these being, in fact, the days of the year on which the bearers were born. They should be read, "the 9th Queh," "the 2d Batz," etc.
Tribal Subdivisions.
The chinamitl appears to have been the sub-gens. Besides it, there are other words frequently recurring in the Annals referring to divisions of the community, hay, home or household; ꜭhob, sept or division; and amaꜫ, tribe or city.
The first of these, hay, appears to be a general term applied to a community, without necessarily implying relationship. An Indian, asked where he is from, will answer in ahhay vae, "I am of this place," referring to his village. Yet it is evident that in early times, all of one village were considered to be related. The word hay, moroever, does not signify a house as an edifice. In that sense the proper term is ochoch.
- ↑ "Tienen tambien renombres de sus chinamitales ò parcialidades que tambien son de signos vel nombres señalados, como Xahila, etc.—Coto, Vocabulario, MS., s. v. Renombre.
