Nicaragua 's Toponymy

Toponymy or geographical onomastics is a discipline consisting in the study and origin of proper names of place. Toponyms occasionally originate in family names or proper names of people, but often its origin is some physical aspect of the place they name.

On Nicaragua 's occident, in the region surrounding lakes and volcanoes, linger Mexican origin names, from Chorotega and Nahuas tribes. Among the first mentioned, for example: Momotombo, Nagarote, Mateare, Masaya, Nindirí, Niquinohomo, Diriamba, Nandaime and others.

More recent Nahu names show up in Managua: Asososca, Tiscapa, Nejapa, Chiltepe, Masatepe, Tipitapa, Chinandega and others, as well as along the trade route established by the Aztecs in the center of Nicaragua: Jalapa, Telpaneca, Condega, Sébaco, Teustepe and Juigalpa, among others.

The two great lakes were called Cocibolca and Xolotlán, following the Toltec cult, honoring the mythical twins Quetzalcóatl and Xolotl, taken to Nicaragua by Tula survivors.

A separate group is the Sutiabas or Maribios indians, whose descendants today subsist, quite transformed in a neighborhood close to the city of León . Primitive inhabitants of the central mountain region of Nicaragua have been indistinctively been called Chontales, Matagalpas or Populucas.

Their ethnic group and language mixed with Spanish during the “mestizaje”; only some toponyms remain as Palacagüina, Somoto, Yalí, Susucayán, Saraguasca, Wiwilí, Limay, Moropotente, Oluma, Lóvago and others.

In the Caribbean region of Nicaragua , locally known as Atlantic Coast , live the Misquitos, Sumos and Ramas tribes. Some Misquito names: Kukalaya, Alamikamba, Layasiksa, Raitipura, Tasbaprí, Dakura, Bismuna and Bambana.

From the Sumos derive Paiwas, Matiguás, Pancasán, Kilambé, Musún, Kukra, Kurinwás, Waspam and Bocay. From the branches derive Yolaina, Melchora, Silico and Chiripa, ethnically related with the Chibcha-muiscas groups from northern South America .

The rest of the toponyms have been introduced as a result of three centuries of Spanish domination on the western half of the country. In the Atlantic Coast , on their turn, the English exerted their hegemony and British influence was felt until the end of the XIX century, on 1894. Deriving from them, are names as: Bluefields, Corn Island , Pearl Lagoon, Monkey Point, Sandy Bay and others.