A federal lawmaker is proposing that Mexico change its official name from the United Mexican States to simply Mexico, just as former president Felipe Calderón did in the last days of his presidency in 2012.  

The name change would also mean changing the name of the Constitution and modifying 17 of its articles. 

“Mexico is precisely the name that gives meaning and essence to our nation. The name of Mexico contains the idea of ​​autonomous and independent states inside that represent a federal pact toward the outside,” said proponent Juan Martínez Flores.

Incorporating the words “United States” is no longer accurate as Mexico is not a federal republic, he says. 

“Some Latin American countries, such as Brazil and Venezuela, called themselves the United States when they recently became independent, but they have already changed their names to what we call them today,” Martínez argued.

The country’s name has evolved over the years, and it was known as the Mexican Empire from 1821 to 1823 after gaining independence from Spain. The name United Mexican States was first used in the 1824 Constitution. 

“Since its birth as a homeland, the term Mexico has been used, a word that comes from the Náhuatl language and is divided into two parts, metztli, which means moon, and xiclti, which means navel, therefore Mexico means ‘in the navel of the moon,’” Martínez says.

Some international organizations, such as the Organization of American States and the United Nations, have already shortened the name of the country to just Mexico, and he says Mexicans should as well. “We are known as Mexicans, and we identify ourselves culturally and historically as such and our nation simply as Mexico.”

When former president Calderón attempted to change the country’s name eight years ago, he used a different argument.

“It’s time that we Mexicans retake the beauty and simplicity of our motherland’s name: Mexico. (It’s) a name that … identifies us throughout the world and makes us proud,” Calderón said at the time.

When Mexico began calling itself the “United Mexican States” it did so because the United States of America was seen as a beacon of democracy and political and administrative organization, Calderón said. But “the name of our country can no longer continue to emulate other countries.” 

Calderón had first proposed the name change as a congressman in 2003 but the proposal didn’t make it to a vote.

Mexico City officially changed its name in 2016 when then-president Enrique Peña Nieto officially declared the creation of Mexico City, dropping the Federal District moniker, or DF, its initials in Spanish.

More recently, another Morena politician has proposed changing the name of the president’s home state from Tabasco to Tabasco de López Obrador, which triggered a suggestion that the state of Sinaloa be renamed as well.

“How about Sinaloa de Chapo Guzmán?” asked Mexico News Daily contributor Carlisle Johnson.

Source: El Financiero (sp)