Meztli
A feminine Mexican name meaning "moon".
Name Census estimates that about 321 living Americans carry the first name Meztli. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meztli today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meztli births was 2013 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meztli. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
321
~ 1 in 1,067,771 Americans
Peak year
2013
21 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,119
Tracked since 1995
Popularity
Meztli: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meztli from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 130 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Meztli remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meztli by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Meztli during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meztlis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Meztli
The given name Meztli has its origins in the Nahuatl language, spoken by the Aztec people of ancient Mexico. Nahuatl was the primary language of the Aztec Empire, which flourished from the 14th to the 16th century in what is now central Mexico.
Meztli is derived from the Nahuatl word "metztli," which means "moon." The name is believed to have been given to children born under a significant lunar phase or during a significant moon cycle. In Aztec mythology, the moon played a significant role, and various deities were associated with it.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Meztli can be found in the Codex Mendoza, a 16th-century Aztec codex that documented various aspects of Aztec life, including names and their meanings. The name Meztli is mentioned in the context of naming practices and its association with the moon.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Meztli. One of the earliest recorded was Meztli Cuauhtlequetzqui, a 15th-century Aztec warrior and military leader who served under the Aztec ruler Moctezuma I.
Another notable figure was Meztli Chalchiuhtlicue, a 16th-century Aztec noblewoman who was a prominent figure in the court of Moctezuma II, the last Aztec emperor before the Spanish conquest.
In more recent times, Meztli Rodríguez Montemayor (1926-2017) was a Mexican anthropologist and academic who made significant contributions to the study of indigenous cultures in Mexico.
Meztli Flores (born 1983) is a contemporary Mexican actress and singer known for her work in telenovelas and films.
Meztli Luz García (born 1995) is a Mexican professional boxer who has won several championships in her weight class.
While the name Meztli is not as common today as it once was among the Aztec people, it remains a powerful reminder of the rich cultural heritage of ancient Mexico and the significance of the moon in Aztec mythology and cosmology.
People
Meztli + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meztli as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Meztli: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meztli?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 321 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meztli going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,067,771 US residents.
Is Meztli a common name?
We classify Meztli as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 324 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meztli most popular?
The single biggest year for Meztli was 2013, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meztli is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Meztli a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meztli in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.