Say it right
How to pronounce Mexican names
Spanish is regular: five pure vowels, every letter said, stress on the second-to-last syllable unless an accent mark moves it. Nahuatl adds a few sounds English lacks, x as sh and the final tl. Learn these and you can say any name on this site.
Letter by letter
| Letters | Sound | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a | ah, as in father | Ana (AH-nah), Camila |
| e | eh, as in bet, never silent | José (ho-SEH), Mateo (mah-TEH-oh) |
| i | ee, as in machine | Iker (EE-ker), Citlali |
| o | oh, as in go, but short | Rocío (ro-SEE-oh) |
| u | oo, as in food | Luz (LOOS), Lupe |
| j | an English h | Jesús (heh-SOOS), Ximena/Jimena (hee-MEH-nah) |
| g before e, i | the same h sound | Regina (reh-HEE-nah), Ángel (AHN-hel) |
| gu before e, i | hard g; the u is silent | Guillermo (gee-YER-moh), Miguel (mee-GEL) |
| h | always silent | Hernández (er-NAHN-des) |
| ll, y | a y sound | Guillermo, Yolanda (yo-LAHN-dah) |
| ñ | ny, as in canyon | Iñaki, Peña, niño |
| qu | k; the u is silent | Enrique (en-REE-keh), Joaquín (hwah-KEEN) |
| z, c before e/i | s in Mexico (not the Spanish th) | Zacarías (sah-kah-REE-ahs), Lucía (loo-SEE-ah) |
| r | a single tap; rr is rolled | Rosario, Ramírez |
| x (Nahuatl) | sh | Xóchitl (SOH-cheetl), Xochimilco (so-chee-MEEL-koh) |
| x (México, Oaxaca) | an h sound, a colonial spelling of j | México (MEH-hee-koh), Oaxaca (wah-HAH-kah) |
| x (Ximena, Xavier) | h (or sh, or ks, by family) | Ximena (hee-MEH-nah) |
| tl (Nahuatl) | one sound: t with the tongue released at the sides | Xóchitl, Tláloc, Cuauhtli (KWOW-tlee) |
| hu, cu (Nahuatl) | w, kw | Huitzilopochtli (weet-see-loh-POCH-tlee), Cuauhtémoc (kwow-TEH-mok) |
| tz (Nahuatl) | ts | Itzel (eet-SEL), Quetzalcóatl (ket-sahl-KOH-ahtl) |
Where the stress goes
Spanish has one rule and one exception. Words ending in a vowel, n, or s stress the second-to-last syllable: So-FI-a, Va-len-TI-na, CAR-men. Words ending in another consonant stress the last: Ma-NUEL, Da-VID, Cor-TÉS. Any written accent overrides both: Jo-SÉ, ÁN-gel, Ro-CÍ-o, Cuauh-TÉ-moc. On every name page the stressed syllable is highlighted in gold.
Nahuatl names
Classical Nahuatl always stressed the second-to-last syllable, so Xó-chitl, Cit-LA-li, To-na-TIUH, Cuauh-TÉ-moc, Ne-za-hual-CÓ-yotl. The tl at the end of a word is a single consonant; say a t and let the air out over the sides of the tongue, or simply say "tl" quickly without a vowel after it. Mexicans often reduce it to a plain t or drop it, so Xóchitl becomes SO-cheet, and nobody minds.
Maya names
Yucatec Maya stresses the last syllable more often than Spanish does: It-ZEL, Nic-TÉ, Ba-LAM, Ca-NEK, Ku-kul-KÁN. The x is sh, as in Nahuatl: Ix-CHEL is eesh-CHEL.
Pronunciation FAQ
How do you pronounce Xóchitl?
SOH-cheetl. The x is sh (softened to s by many Mexicans), the ch is an English ch, and the final tl is one quick sound. Two syllables.
How do you pronounce Cuauhtémoc?
kwow-TEH-mok. Cu before a vowel is kw, au is ow, and the stress falls on TEH because of the accent mark.
How do you pronounce Guadalupe?
gwah-dah-LOO-peh, four syllables, stress on LOO. The final e is not silent.
Where does the stress go in Spanish names?
On the second-to-last syllable if the word ends in a vowel, n, or s (so-FEE-ah, CAR-men, MAR-kos), on the last syllable if it ends in any other consonant (mah-NWEL), and wherever the written accent says otherwise (ho-SEH, AHN-hel, kwow-TEH-mok).
Why does Ximena start with X?
Medieval Spanish wrote the sh sound with x. That sound later became the modern j (h) sound, and most words were respelled with j (Jimena), but some names and place names kept the old x: Ximena, Xavier, México, Oaxaca, Texas.