My Mayan Name: Ix'iloom
Ix'iloom
is my Mayan name, given to me by my linguist colleague Ajpub' Pablo García
Ixmatá. Literally, it means "Woman who sees." Ajpub', who is Tz'utujiil,
is an activist on the issue of Mayan names. He, his wife, and their three
children all have Mayan first names. The recuperation of Mayan naming is
one of the fruits of the cultural revitalization movement that has taken
root among Guatemala Mayan communities over the past decade or so. The ability
to choose a Mayan name, to register it with the government, and to use it
for official purposes has routinely been denied to Mayan people.
Traditionally, when people came to register their children with the church or the state, officials would assign them names, sometimes of saints in the Catholic calendar, sometimes of the official himself! Mayan names were considered too difficult to pronounce, or too pagan, or too hard to spell. Only last May 2003, was the language rights law finally passed, giving people the right to use their native languages in various official ways. Ajpub' himself was one of the first university graduates to be able to request that his diploma carry his Mayan name.